An antibiotic sprayed on orchard crops to combat bacterial diseases slows the cognition of bumblebees and reduces their foraging efficiency, a laboratory study finds. Proceedings of the Royal Society B published the findings by scientists at Emory University and the University of Washington.
The research focused on streptomycin, an antibiotic used increasingly in U.S. agriculture during the past decade.
“No one has examined the potential impacts on pollinators of broadcast spraying of antibiotics in agriculture, despite their widespread use,” says Laura Avila, co-lead author of the paper and a post-doctoral fellow in Emory’s Department of Biology.
The current study was based on laboratory experiments using an upper-limit dietary exposure of streptomycin to bumblebees. It is not known whether wild bumblebees are affected by agricultural spraying of streptomycin, or whether they are exposed to the tested concentration in the field.
“This paper is a first step towards understanding whether the use of streptomycin on food crops may be taking a toll on pollinators that benefit agriculture,” says Berry Brosi, senior author of the paper. Brosi began the work as a faculty member in Emory’s Department of Environmental Sciences and is currently with the University of Washington.
Read more at: Emory University
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