Nutritional composition of pollen stores in managed bees across European agro‐ecosystems reveals species‐specific differences but limited pesticide effects

Abstract Nutritional ecology is a key determinant of bee health, yet species‐specific preferences and how bees respond nutritionally to real‐world pesticide exposure remain unclear. We collected pollen stores from three managed bee species in 128 sites across two widespread agro‐ecosystems (i.e., oilseed rape fields and apple orchards) in eight European countries. We measured protein content, lipid content, protein‐to‐lipid ratio as well as pesticide residues in pollen stores. We provide the first evidence of species‐specific macronutritional patterns in the pollen stores of three managed bee species. The buff‐tailed bumble bee stored pollen with significantly lower lipid content (mean: 44.1 μg/mg) than the European honey bee (mean: 57.2 μg/mg) and the red mason bee (mean: 54 μg/mg). This reduced lipid content translated into a higher protein‐to‐lipid (P:L) ratio in the buff‐tailed bumble bee (mean: 8.53) when compared to the European honey bee (mean: 5.85) and the red mason bee (mean: 5.60). Pesticide risk, measured as toxicity‐weighted concentrations in pollen stores, did not influence P:L ratios in any species. However, increasing pesticide risk was associated with reduced protein content and lipid content in buff‐tailed bumble bee stores, potentially leading to suboptimal colony development, whereas it was associated with increased protein content in red mason bee stores. Our findings suggest that bees maintain consistent macronutritional profiles in their pollen stores under pesticide exposure, at least in terms of P:L ratios, suggesting limited capacity to adapt their macronutritional dietary choices to mitigate agrochemical stress. These findings highlight a critical need to balance floral enhancements with a reduction in pesticide use to safeguard pollinators in agricultural landscapes.

Authors

Institutions

Publication Details

Journal
Ecological Entomology
Published
2026-05-02
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/een.70096
Primary Topic
Insect and Pesticide Research
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

Funders

Controls
|||
ALL TIME
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
article

Nutritional composition of pollen stores in managed bees across European agro‐ecosystems reveals species‐specific differences but limited pesticide effects

Francesca Corvucci, Christophe Dominik, Irene Bottero, Maryse Vanderplanck et al.
Ecological Entomology
Insect and Pesticide Research
article

Nutritional composition of pollen stores in managed bees across European agro‐ecosystems reveals species‐specific differences but limited pesticide effects

Francesca Corvucci, Christophe Dominik, Irene Bottero, Maryse Vanderplanck, Dimitry Wintermantel, Risto Raimets, Guillaume Ghisbain, Simon Hodge, Marika Mänd, Gennaro Di Prisco, Elena Cini, Marie‐Pierre Chauzat, Antoine Gekière, Deepa Senapathi, Clément Tourbez, Tomasz Kiljanek, Giovanni Tamburini, Elif Kardas, Giorgia Serra, Joachim DE MIRANDA, Janine Schwarz, Mark Brown, Oliver Schweiger, Jane Stout, Francesca Grillenzoni, Vicente Martínez-López, Pilar De la Rúa, Simon Potts, Anina Knauer, Cecilia Costa, Maj Rundlöf, Marion Laurent, Denis Michez, Matthias Albrecht, Alexandra-Maria Klein
article en

Abstract

Abstract Nutritional ecology is a key determinant of bee health, yet species‐specific preferences and how bees respond nutritionally to real‐world pesticide exposure remain unclear. We collected pollen stores from three managed bee species in 128 sites across two widespread agro‐ecosystems (i.e., oilseed rape fields and apple orchards) in eight European countries. We measured protein content, lipid content, protein‐to‐lipid ratio as well as pesticide residues in pollen stores. We provide the first evidence of species‐specific macronutritional patterns in the pollen stores of three managed bee species. The buff‐tailed bumble bee stored pollen with significantly lower lipid content (mean: 44.1 μg/mg) than the European honey bee (mean: 57.2 μg/mg) and the red mason bee (mean: 54 μg/mg). This reduced lipid content translated into a higher protein‐to‐lipid (P:L) ratio in the buff‐tailed bumble bee (mean: 8.53) when compared to the European honey bee (mean: 5.85) and the red mason bee (mean: 5.60). Pesticide risk, measured as toxicity‐weighted concentrations in pollen stores, did not influence P:L ratios in any species. However, increasing pesticide risk was associated with reduced protein content and lipid content in buff‐tailed bumble bee stores, potentially leading to suboptimal colony development, whereas it was associated with increased protein content in red mason bee stores. Our findings suggest that bees maintain consistent macronutritional profiles in their pollen stores under pesticide exposure, at least in terms of P:L ratios, suggesting limited capacity to adapt their macronutritional dietary choices to mitigate agrochemical stress. These findings highlight a critical need to balance floral enhancements with a reduction in pesticide use to safeguard pollinators in agricultural landscapes.

Ecological Entomology
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), University of Mons (BE), Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (DE), École Pratique des Hautes Études (FR), University of Freiburg (DE), Royal Holloway University of London (GB), Lund University (SE), Estonian University of Life Sciences (EE), Université de Montpellier (FR), Trinity College Dublin (IE), University of Cambridge (GB), German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (DE), Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SE), Food Research Institute (SK), Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection (IT), Centre d'Écologie Fonctionnelle et Évolutive (FR), Laboratoire d'Informatique, Signaux et Systèmes de Sophia Antipolis (FR), Agence Nationale des Fréquences (FR), Agence Nationale de Sécurité Sanitaire de l’Alimentation, de l’Environnement et du Travail (FR), Agroscope (CH), Fondation Sophia Antipolis (FR), Research Centre for Cereal and Industrial Crops (IT), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR), Anglia Ruskin University (GB), University of Bari Aldo Moro (IT), University of Reading (GB), Universidad de Murcia (ES)
Fonds De La Recherche Scientifique - FNRS, Horizon 2020 Framework Programme
Zero hunger
Openalex Percentile: Top 11%
Insect and Pesticide Research
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
AI Navigator

Ask Laika to Summarize, Analyze, and Connect papers live on the map.

Summarize Papers & Methodologies

Extract key findings, datasets, and comparative methods across publications.

Benchmark Rankings & Visual Analytics

Rank top research institutions, authors, funders, topics, and journals by Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) and paper volume with instant charts.

Connect Distant Disciplines

Bridge topological clusters on the map to find hidden collaborative intersections.