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Bombus Microcolonies as a Tool for Biological Understanding and Risk Assessment
Citation:
Lehmann, D., E. Klinger, A. Camp, J. Strange, AND D. Cox-Foster. Bombus Microcolonies as a Tool for Biological Understanding and Risk Assessment. Entomological Society of America, Denver, Colorado, October 31 - November 03, 2021.
Impact/Purpose:
Bumble bees provide valuable pollination services to many wild and agricultural plants, but populations of some bumble bee species are in decline. This review closely examines the Bombus microcolony model. From this information, we identified a series of recommendations for standardizing core elements of microcolony studies. Standardization is critical to establishing the foundation needed to support use of this model for biological response investigations and particularly for supporting use in risk assessment.
Description:
Bumble bees provide valuable pollination services to many wild and agricultural plants. Populations of some bumble bee species are in decline, prompting the need to better understand bumble bee biology and to develop methodologies for assessing the effects of environmental stressors on these bees. Use of bumble bee microcolonies as an experimental tool is steadily increasing. This review closely examines examined the microcolony model using peer reviewed published literature identified by searching three databases through November 2018. Microcolonies have been successfully used for investigating a range of endpoints including behavior, the gut microbiome, nutrition, development, pathogens, chemical biology, and pesticides/xenobiotics. From the identified/relevant studies, methods for the initiation and monitoring of microcolonies, as well as the recorded variables were catalogued and described. From this information, we identified a series of recommendations for standardizing core elements of microcolony studies. Standardization is critical to establishing the foundation needed to support use of this model for biological response investigations and particularly for supporting use in pesticide risk assessment.