title: Queens become workers: pesticides alter caste differentiation in bees.
abstract: Bees are important for the world biodiversity and economy because they provide key pollination services in forests and crops. However, pesticide use in crops has adversely affected (decreased) queen production because of increased mortality among larvae. Here, we demonstrated that in vitro-reared queens of a neotropical social bee species (Plebeia droryana) also showed high larval mortality after exposure to an organophosphate pesticide (chlorpyrifos) via larval food. Moreover, most of the surviving larvae that were destined to develop into queens became workers more likely because they ate less food than expected without pesticide skewing thus caste differentiation in this bee species. This adverse effect has not been previously reported for any other social insects, such as honeybees or bumblebees. Queens are essential for breeding and colony growth. Therefore, if our data are applicable to other pantropical social bee species across the globe, it is likely that these bees are at a serious risk of failure to form new colonies.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biodiversidade e Ecologia, Faculdade de Biociências, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Av. Ipiranga, 6681, 90619-900 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Charles F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Dos Santos
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade de São Paulo, Rua do Matão, 321, Travessa 14, 05508-090 São Paulo, SP, Brazil.|Núcleo de Pesquisa em Biodiversidade e Computação - BioComp. Escola Politécnica, Av. Prof. Luciano Gualberto, Trav. 3, n. 380, 05508-010 São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: André L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Acosta
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biodiversidade e Ecologia, Faculdade de Biociências, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Av. Ipiranga, 6681, 90619-900 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Andressa L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Dorneles
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biodiversidade e Ecologia, Faculdade de Biociências, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Av. Ipiranga, 6681, 90619-900 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Patrick D S
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Dos Santos
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biodiversidade e Ecologia, Faculdade de Biociências, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Av. Ipiranga, 6681, 90619-900 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.|Instituto do Meio Ambiente, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Av. Ipiranga, 6681, 90619-900 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Betina
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Blochtein
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000145:classification / Q000502:physiology*; D044822:Biodiversity; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D010575:Pesticides / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D010575:Pesticides