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When a Tritrophic Interaction Goes Wrong to the Third Level: Xanthoxylin From Trees Causes the Honeybee Larval Mortality in Colonies Affected by the River Disease.
- Source :
-
Journal of chemical ecology [J Chem Ecol] 2021 Sep; Vol. 47 (8-9), pp. 777-787. Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 Jul 21. - Publication Year :
- 2021
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Abstract
- The "River Disease" (RD), a disorder impacting honeybee colonies located close to waterways with abundant riparian vegetation (including Sebastiania schottiana, Euphorbiaceae), kills newly hatched larvae. Forager bees from RD-affected colonies collect honeydew excretions from Epormenis cestri (Hemiptera: Flatidae), a planthopper feeding on trees of S. schottiana. First-instar honeybee larvae fed with this honeydew died. Thus, we postulated that the nectars of RD-affected colonies had a natural toxin coming from either E. cestri or S. schottiana. An untargeted metabolomics characterization of fresh nectars extracts from colonies with and without RD allowed to pinpoint xanthoxylin as one of the chemicals present in higher amounts in nectar from RD-affected colonies than in nectars from healthy colonies. Besides, xanthoxylin was also found in the aerial parts of S. schottiana and the honeydew excreted by E. cestri feeding on this tree. A larva feeding assay where xanthoxylin-enriched diets were offered to 1 <superscript>st</superscript> instar larvae showed that larvae died in the same proportion as larvae did when offered enriched diets with nectars from RD-colonies. These findings demonstrate that a xenobiotic can mimic the RD syndrome in honeybee larvae and provide evidence of an interspecific flow of xanthoxylin among three trophic levels. Further, our results give information that can be considered when implementing measures to control this honeybee disease.<br /> (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)
- Subjects :
- Acetophenones pharmacology
Animals
Bees growth & development
Diet veterinary
Discriminant Analysis
Euphorbiaceae metabolism
Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry
Larva drug effects
Larva physiology
Least-Squares Analysis
Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
Metabolomics methods
Plant Components, Aerial chemistry
Plant Components, Aerial metabolism
Plant Nectar chemistry
Acetophenones analysis
Bees physiology
Euphorbiaceae chemistry
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1573-1561
- Volume :
- 47
- Issue :
- 8-9
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Journal of chemical ecology
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 34287796
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-021-01296-5