Honeybee colonies compensate for pesticide-induced effects on royal jelly composition and brood survival with increased brood production

Sublethal doses of pesticides affect individual honeybees, but colony-level effects are less well understood and it is unclear how the two levels integrate. We studied the effect of the neonicotinoid pesticide clothianidin at field realistic concentrations on small colonies. We found that exposure to clothianidin affected worker jelly production of individual workers and created a strong dose-dependent increase in mortality of individual larvae, but strikingly the population size of capped brood remained stable. Thus, hives exhibited short-term resilience. Using a demographic matrix model, we found that the basis of resilience in dosed colonies was a substantive increase in brood initiation rate to compensate for increased brood mortality. However, computer simulation of full size colonies revealed that the increase in brood initiation led to severe reductions in colony reproduction (swarming) and long-term survival. This experiment reveals social regulatory mechanisms on colony-level that enable honeybees to partly compensate for effects on individual level.

Automated summary

Exposure to clothianidin affected worker jelly production and increased larval mortality, but population size of capped brood remained stable, showing short-term resilience. However, computer simulations of full size colonies revealed increased brood initiation led to severe reductions in colony reproduction and long-term survival. This experiment highlights social regulatory mechanisms that enable honeybees to compensate for individual-level effects at the colony level.