ArticlePloS one2018
Exposure to pesticides during development negatively affects honey bee (Apis mellifera) drone sperm viability.
Article in PloS one, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers.
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Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 75 citations in OpenAlex.
- Mechanisms Underlying Male Reproductive Toxicity Induced by Sublethal β-Cypermethrin Exposure inInsects · 2026Article
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- Unraveling pesticide impacts on pollinators: a global challenge for sustainable crop protection.Die Naturwissenschaften · 2026Review
- Fluvalinate accumulation in the beehive environment and its effects on semen quality and gene expression of drones under field conditions.Ecotoxicology (London, England) · 2026Article
- Effects of pesticides on sperm quality in honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) drones.Veterinary research communications · 2025Article
- Does Glycerin Used inInsects · 2025Article
- The Sublethal Effects of Neonicotinoids on Honeybees.Biology · 2025Review
- From larva to adult: In vitro rearing protocol for honey bee (Apis mellifera) drones.PloS one · 2025Article
- Article
- Article
- Detrimental effects of amitraz exposure in honey bees (Apis mellifera) infected with Nosema ceranae.Parasitology research · 2024Article
- A field realistic model to assess the effects of pesticides residues and adulterants on honey bee gene expression.PloS one · 2024Article
- Re-using food resources from failed honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) colonies and their impact on colony queen rearing capacity.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Article
- Essential Oils for a Sustainable Control of Honeybee Varroosis.Veterinary sciences · 2023Review
- A longitudinal experiment demonstrates that honey bee colonies managed organically are as healthy and productive as those managed conventionally.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Article
- Green Veterinary Pharmacology for Honey Bee Welfare and Health:Veterinary sciences · 2022Article
- Drone honey bees are disproportionately sensitive to abiotic stressors despite expressing high levels of stress response proteins.Communications biology · 2022Article
- Variation in the reproductive quality of honey bee males affects their age of flight attempt.PeerJ · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies invest a substantial amount of colony resources in the production of drones during the reproductive season to enable mating with virgin queens from nearby colonies. Recent studies have shown significant differences in the production of sperm cells that are viable (i.e., sperm viability) and can fertilize an ovule among sexually mature drones that are exposed to different environmental conditions during development or as adults. In particular, sperm viability may be negatively affected during drone development from exposure to pesticides in contaminated beeswax. To assess whether sperm viability is negatively affected during drone development from exposure to beeswax contaminated with in-hive pesticides, we compared the viability of sperm collected from drones reared in pesticide-free beeswax with that of drones reared in beeswax contaminated with field-relevant concentrations of the pesticides most commonly found in wax from commercial beekeeping operations in the United States. These pesticides include the miticides fluvalinate, coumaphos and amitraz, and the agro-chemicals chlorothalonil and chlorpyrifos. Sperm from drones collected at 10 and 18 days post emergence were classified as viable or non-viable to calculate sperm viability. For all pesticide treatment groups, drones that were reared in pesticide-laden beeswax had lower sperm viability compared to those reared in pesticide-free beeswax. This difference was especially pronounced among drones reared in miticide-laden wax. Our results reinforce the notion that pesticide contamination of beeswax negatively affects the reproductive quality of drones, which can affect the queens they mate with, ultimately compromising colony health.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.