Bulletin of Insectology (2014) 67(1): 125-130

Honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) colony collapse disorder (CCD) that appeared in 2005/2006 still lingers in many parts of the world. Here we show that sub-lethal exposure of neonicotinoids, imidacloprid or clothianidin, affected the winterization of healthy colonies that subsequently leads to CCD. We found honey bees in both control and neonicotinoid-treated groups progressed almost identically through the summer and fall seasons and observed no acute morbidity or mortality in either group until the end of win-ter. Bees from six of the twelve neonicotinoid-treated colonies had abandoned their hives, and were eventually dead with symptoms resembling CCD. However, we observed a complete opposite phenomenon in the control colonies in which instead of abandonment, they were re-populated quickly with new emerging bees. Only one of the six control colonies was lost due to Nosema-like infection. The observations from this study may help to elucidate the mechanisms by which sub-lethal neonicotinoids expo-sure caused honey bees to vanish from their hives.

1.02MB

Sub-lethal exposure to neonicotinoids impaired honey bees winterization before proceeding to colony collapse disorder