Location: Invasive Species and Pollinator Health
Project Number: 2030-21000-055-007-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Jul 1, 2023
End Date: Jun 30, 2027
Objective:
To develop collaborative research efforts to determine how various pesticides affect aspects of honey bee reproduction. Using both lab and field techniques, we will determine how pesticides distribute throughout colony matrices and how different exposure scenarios affect aspects of reproduction and behavior. These aspects may include, but are not limited to, reproductive physiology, oviposition, offspring survival, and hormone composition. This research will guide future experiments to understand how pesticides affect the longterm health and performance of honey bee colonies.
Approach:
The USDA Invasive Species and Pollinator Health Research Unit will conduct research with collaborators at the University of California Davis, Department of Environmental Toxicology, on a project to determine how agrochemicals affect honey bee reproduction. We a combination of laboratory and field assays to expose bees and monitor their behaviors and longevity, and we will further explore these findings using established techniques such as qPCR, GC- and LC-MS/MS, and proteomics to analyze collected samples.
