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ViewAttendees 17

P-IE

Student Competition 10-Minute Paper

Grad 10-min: P-IE, Pollinators 1

Effects of fungicide and bee-associated fungi on bumble bee health

On-Demand
Student Competition On-Demand
Bumble bees are important native pollinators, but many species are in decline. Fungicides may contribute to bumble bee declines, but the mechanisms behind this are unknown. It is possible that fungicides impact bumble bee health through alteration of bee-fungi associations. Fungi are frequently found in the food stores of bumble bee nests and from bee guts. These fungi have been proposed to have beneficial effects on their bee associates, but the impact that fungicides have on these fungal communities is not known. Here, we tested how fungicide application impacts the health and fungal microbiome of bumble bees, and whether subsequent addition of bee-associated fungi can help bees recover from fungicide exposure. We tested these effects using microcolonies of Bombus impatiens and B. vosnesenskii. We found species-specific effects of treatments on bumble bee survival. B. impatiens survival was not impacted by fungicide exposure and increased with fungal supplementation. B. vosnesenskii microcolonies experienced high mortality when exposed to fungicide, but addition of fungi improved survival. The microbiome of both species was composed of similar fungal groups, but the relative abundance of these groups differed between species. For both species, microbiome composition differed between treatment groups in small but significant ways. These results provide evidence for the importance of bee-fungi symbioses in bee health. Additionally, the importance of these relationships differs between the species studied here, suggesting that although both species seem to benefit from fungi, the nature of bumble bee-fungi interactions may vary among species.