(2nd Place) Investigating the sublethal effects of the agricultural fungicide, Chlorothalonil, and the miticide Amitraz on honey bees (Apis mellifera)

The honey bee (Apis mellifera) is an economically important pollinator that faces a number of stressors. One of which is exposure to pesticides. Accordingly, understanding the sublethal effects of pesticides is imperative to the future of beekeeping. Recent studies have shown pesticide treatments to have negative effects on honey bee behaviors and physiology. Showing that frequent use can lead to decreased sperm viability, precocious foraging, and even early death. The goal of this study was to determine the repercussions of the pesticides Chlorothalonil and Amitraz as they pertain to survivorship and foraging behavior. Chlorothalonil and Amitraz are pesticides commonly used in and around bee colonies and are found frequently in honey bee wax. To achieve this, frames contaminated with field-relevant levels of each pesticide were inserted into honey bee colonies. Frames were left in the colonies for brood to be reared in them. Once the brood was at the age of emergence, the emerging brood was tagged corresponding to the date of emergence and treatment group. After this, tagged bees were introduced into observation hives and then observed over a period of 22 days. The pesticide-stressed bees had no significant indicators of affected behavior when compared to their control counterpart. The numbers recorded for days survived, the amount of time spent foraging, and waggle dance activity was statistically the same. This implies that at field-relevant levels in wax both Chlorothalonil and Amitraz have no observable behavioral impacts on these variables in honey bee colonies.