Novel indices reveal that pollinator exposure to pesticides varies across biological compartments and crop surroundings.

Declines in insect pollinators have been linked to a range of causative factors such as disease, loss of habitats, the quality and availability of food, and exposure to pesticides. Here, we analysed an extensive dataset generated from pesticide screening of foraging insects, pollen-nectar stores/beebread, pollen and ingested nectar across three species of bees collected at 128 European sites set in two types of crop. In this paper, we aimed to (i) derive a new index to summarise key aspects of complex pesticide exposure data and (ii) understand the links between pesticide exposures depicted by the different matrices, bee species and apple orchards versus oilseed rape crops. We found that summary indices were highly correlated with the number of pesticides detected in the related matrix but not with which pesticides were present. Matrices collected from apple orchards generally contained a higher number of pesticides (7.6 pesticides per site) than matrices from sites collected from oilseed rape crops (3.5 pesticides), with fungicides being highly represented in apple crops. A greater number of pesticides were found in pollen-nectar stores/beebread and pollen matrices compared with nectar and bee body matrices. Our results show that for a complete assessment of pollinator pesticide exposure, it is necessary to consider several different exposure routes and multiple species of bees across different agricultural systems.

A blood test to monitor bee health across a European network of agricultural sites of different land-use by MALDI BeeTyping mass spectrometry.

There are substantial concerns about impaired honey bee health and colony losses due to several poorly understood factors. We used MALDI profiling (MALDI BeeTyping®) analysis to investigate how some environmental and management factors under field conditions across Europe affected the honey bee haemolymph peptidome (all peptides in the circulatory fluid), as a profile of molecular markers representing the immune status of Apis mellifera. Honey bees were exposed to a range of environmental stressors in 128 agricultural sites across eight European countries in four biogeographic zones, with each country contributing eight sites each for two different cropping systems: oilseed rape (OSR) and apple (APP). The full haemolymph peptide profiles, including the presence and levels of three key immunity markers, namely the antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) Apidaecin, Abaecin and Defensin-1, allowed the honey bee responses to environmental variables to be discriminated by country, crop type and site. When considering just the AMPs, it was not possible to distinguish between countries by the prevalence of each AMP in the samples. However, it was possible to discriminate between countries on the amounts of the AMPs, with the Swedish samples in particular expressing high amounts of all AMPs. A machine learning model was developed to discriminate the haemolymphs of bees from APP and OSR sites. The model was 90.6 % accurate in identifying the crop type from the samples used to build the model. Overall, MALDI BeeTyping® of bee haemolymph represents a promising and cost-effective "blood test" for simultaneously monitoring dozens of peptide markers affected by environmental stressors at the landscape scale, thus providing policymakers with new diagnostic and regulatory tools for monitoring bee health.

Distribution of infectious and parasitic agents among three sentinel bee species across European agricultural landscapes.

Infectious and parasitic agents (IPAs) and their associated diseases are major environmental stressors that jeopardize bee health, both alone and in interaction with other stressors. Their impact on pollinator communities can be assessed by studying multiple sentinel bee species. Here, we analysed the field exposure of three sentinel managed bee species (Apis mellifera, Bombus terrestris and Osmia bicornis) to 11 IPAs (six RNA viruses, two bacteria, three microsporidia). The sentinel bees were deployed at 128 sites in eight European countries adjacent to either oilseed rape fields or apple orchards during crop bloom. Adult bees of each species were sampled before their placement and after crop bloom. The IPAs were detected and quantified using a harmonised, high-throughput and semi-automatized qPCR workflow. We describe differences among bee species in IPA profiles (richness, diversity, detection frequencies, loads and their change upon field exposure, and exposure risk), with no clear patterns related to the country or focal crop. Our results suggest that the most frequent IPAs in adult bees are more appropriate for assessing the bees' IPA exposure risk. We also report positive correlations of IPA loads supporting the potential IPA transmission among sentinels, suggesting careful consideration should be taken when introducing managed pollinators in ecologically sensitive environments.

Pesticide use negatively affects bumble bees across European landscapes.

Sustainable agriculture requires balancing crop yields with the effects of pesticides on non-target organisms, such as bees and other crop pollinators. Field studies demonstrated that agricultural use of neonicotinoid insecticides can negatively affect wild bee species1,2, leading to restrictions on these compounds3. However, besides neonicotinoids, field-based evidence of the effects of landscape pesticide exposure on wild bees is lacking. Bees encounter many pesticides in agricultural landscapes4-9 and the effects of this landscape exposure on colony growth and development of any bee species remains unknown. Here we show that the many pesticides found in bumble bee-collected pollen are associated with reduced colony performance during crop bloom, especially in simplified landscapes with intensive agricultural practices. Our results from 316 Bombus terrestris colonies at 106 agricultural sites across eight European countries confirm that the regulatory system fails to sufficiently prevent pesticide-related impacts on non-target organisms, even for a eusocial pollinator species in which colony size may buffer against such impacts10,11. These findings support the need for postapproval monitoring of both pesticide exposure and effects to confirm that the regulatory process is sufficiently protective in limiting the collateral environmental damage of agricultural pesticide use.

Emerging threats and opportunities to managed bee species in European agricultural systems: a horizon scan.

Managed bee species provide essential pollination services that contribute to food security worldwide. However, managed bees face a diverse array of threats and anticipating these, and potential opportunities to reduce risks, is essential for the sustainable management of pollination services. We conducted a horizon scanning exercise with 20 experts from across Europe to identify emerging threats and opportunities for managed bees in European agricultural systems. An initial 63 issues were identified, and this was shortlisted to 21 issues through the horizon scanning process. These ranged from local landscape-level management to geopolitical issues on a continental and global scale across seven broad themes-Pesticides & pollutants, Technology, Management practices, Predators & parasites, Environmental stressors, Crop modification, and Political & trade influences. While we conducted this horizon scan within a European context, the opportunities and threats identified will likely be relevant to other regions. A renewed research and policy focus, especially on the highest-ranking issues, is required to maximise the value of these opportunities and mitigate threats to maintain sustainable and healthy managed bee pollinators within agricultural systems.

Agroecology: protecting, restoring, and promoting biodiversity.

The global food system is the predominant driver of biodiversity loss. Consequently, there is an increasing need to transition towards more sustainable and resilient agri-food systems to protect, restore and promote biodiversity. To help address this issue, BMC Ecology and Evolution has launched a new article Collection on agroecology.

Ecological traits interact with landscape context to determine bees' pesticide risk.

Widespread contamination of ecosystems with pesticides threatens non-target organisms. However, the extent to which life-history traits affect pesticide exposure and resulting risk in different landscape contexts remains poorly understood. We address this for bees across an agricultural land-use gradient based on pesticide assays of pollen and nectar collected by Apis mellifera, Bombus terrestris and Osmia bicornis, representing extensive, intermediate and limited foraging traits. We found that extensive foragers (A. mellifera) experienced the highest pesticide risk-additive toxicity-weighted concentrations. However, only intermediate (B. terrestris) and limited foragers (O. bicornis) responded to landscape context-experiencing lower pesticide risk with less agricultural land. Pesticide risk correlated among bee species and between food sources and was greatest in A. mellifera-collected pollen-useful information for future postapproval pesticide monitoring. We provide foraging trait- and landscape-dependent information on the occurrence, concentration and identity of pesticides that bees encounter to estimate pesticide risk, which is necessary for more realistic risk assessment and essential information for tracking policy goals to reduce pesticide risk.

Bombus terrestris in a mass-flowering pollinator-dependent crop: A mutualistic relationship?

Bumblebees (Bombus spp.) rely on an abundant and diverse selection of floral resources to meet their nutritional requirements. In farmed landscapes, mass-flowering crops can provide an important forage resource for bumblebees, with increased visitation from bumblebees into mass-flowering crops having an additional benefit to growers who require pollination services. This study explores the mutualistic relationship between Bombus terrestris L. (buff-tailed bumblebee), a common species in European farmland, and the mass-flowering crop courgette (Cucurbita pepo L.) to see how effective B. terrestris is at pollinating courgette and in return how courgette may affect B. terrestris colony dynamics. By combining empirical data on nectar and pollen availability with model simulations using the novel bumblebee model Bumble-BEEHAVE, we were able to quantify and simulate for the first time, the importance of courgette as a mass-flowering forage resource for bumblebees. Courgette provides vast quantities of nectar to ensure a high visitation rate, which combined with abundant pollen grains, enables B. terrestris to have a high pollination potential. While B. terrestris showed a strong fidelity to courgette flowers for nectar, courgette pollen was not found in any pollen loads from returning foragers. Nonetheless, model simulations showed that early season courgette (nectar) increased the number of hibernating queens, colonies, and adult workers in the modeled landscapes. Synthesis and applications. Courgette has the potential to improve bumblebee population dynamics; however, the lack of evidence of the bees collecting courgette pollen in this study suggests that bees can only benefit from this transient nectar source if alternative floral resources, particularly pollen, are also available to fulfill bees' nutritional requirements in space and time. Therefore, providing additional forage resources could simultaneously improve pollination services and bumblebee populations.

Courgette Production: Pollination Demand, Supply, and Value.

Courgette (Cucurbita pepo L.) production in the United Kingdom is estimated to be worth £6.7 million. However, little is known about this crop's requirement for insect-mediated pollination (pollinator dependence) and if pollinator populations in a landscape are able to fulfil its pollination needs (pollination deficit). Consequently, pollination experiments were conducted over 2 yr to explore pollinator dependence and pollination deficit in field-grown courgette in the United Kingdom. Results showed that pollination increased yield by 39% and there was no evidence of pollination limitation on crop yield. This was evidenced by a surprisingly low pollination deficit (of just 3%) and no statistical difference in yield (length grown, circumference, and weight) between open- and hand-pollinated crops. Nonetheless, the high economic value of courgettes means that reducing even the small pollination deficit could still increase profit by ∼£166/ha. Interestingly, 56% of fruit was able to reach marketable size and shape without any pollination. Understanding a crop's requirement for pollinators can aid growers in their decision-making about what varieties and sites should be used. In doing so, they may increase their agricultural resilience and further their economic advantage.

Re-evaluating strategies for pollinator-dependent crops: How useful is parthenocarpy?

Whilst most studies reviewing the reliance of global agriculture on insect pollination advocate increasing the 'supply' of pollinators (wild or managed) to improve crop yields, there has been little focus on altering a crop's 'demand' for pollinators.Parthenocarpy (fruit set in the absence of fertilization) is a trait which can increase fruit quantity and quality from pollinator-dependent crops by removing the need for pollination.Here we present a meta-analysis of studies examining the extent and effectiveness of parthenocarpy-promoting techniques (genetic modification, hormone application and selective breeding) currently being used commercially, or experimentally, on pollinator-dependent crops in different test environments (no pollination, hand pollination, open pollination).All techniques significantly increased fruit quantity and quality in 18 pollinator-dependent crop species (not including seed and nut crops as parthenocarpy causes seedlessness). The degree to which plants experienced pollen limitation in the different test environments could not be ascertained, so the absolute effect of parthenocarpy relative to optimal pollination could not be determined. Synthesis and applications. Parthenocarpy has the potential to lower a crop's demand for pollinators, whilst extending current geographic and climatic ranges of production. Thus, growers may wish to use parthenocarpic crop plants, in combination with other environmentally considerate practices, to improve food security and their economic prospects.

Classification of Angular Limb Deformities Affecting the Canine Radius and Ulna Using the Center of Rotation of Angulation Method.

OBJECTIVE: To classify the type of angular deformity affecting the radius and ulna in canine limbs using the center of rotation of angulation methodology. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective case series. ANIMALS: Dogs (n=71) diagnosed with thoracic limb lameness attributable to antebrachial angular limb deformities. METHODS: Medical records from 2006-2013 were searched and cases with orthogonal radiographs or computed tomographic scans of the affected antebrachium were included. Classification of the deformity in the frontal plane and the presence of sagittal plane angulation, torsion, and adjacent joint radiographic disease were determined and compared. RESULTS: Chondrodystrophic (n=26; 44 limbs) and non-chondrodystrophic (n=45; 62 limbs) dogs were included. Thirty-five uniapical and 71 biapical or multiapical deformities in the frontal plane were identified. The incidence of biapical deformities was statistically higher in chondrodystrophic compared to non-chondrodystrophic dogs (P=.02). When breeds were combined, biapical deformities were associated with a significantly higher incidence of adjacent radiographic joint disease (P=.049), more frequently affecting the elbow (P=.022). Overall, 82% of the 106 limbs had radiographic evidence of either elbow or carpal joint disease at the time of presentation. CONCLUSION: Biapical deformities are common in dogs with limb deformities, particularly chondrodystrophic dogs. Radiographic evidence of disease in adjacent joints should be evaluated in patients presenting for antebrachial deformities.

Sexual maturity in western Atlantic bluefin tuna.

We introduce a novel endocrine approach for assessing the unresolved matter of the timing of sexual maturation in western Atlantic bluefin tuna (ABFT), a highly migratory population whose status remains uncertain. Ratios of follicle stimulating hormone to luteinizing hormone, a sexual maturity indicator, in all ABFT ≥ 134 cm curved fork length (CFL) were <0.4, similar to Mediterranean spawners, indicating that western ABFT mature at considerably smaller sizes and at a much younger age than currently assumed (≥ 185 cm CFL).

Eating disorders in female athletes: use of screening tools.

Screening female athletes for eating disorders is not performed commonly even though the American College of Sports Medicine, National Athletic Trainer Association, and International Olympic Committee have guidelines recommending screening. Eating disorders are more prevalent in the female athlete population than in the general population and carry short-term and long-term consequences that can affect sport performance. There are several screening tools available that have been studied in the general population and fewer tools that were validated specifically in female athletes. Female athletes with eating disorder pathology often have different factors and environmental pressures contributing to their pathology that can be identified best with an athlete-specific screening tool. We will discuss various screening tools available and the evidence for each one. Screening for eating disorders in all female athletes is an important part of the preparticipation examination and should be done using a tool specifically validated for the female athlete.

Comparative assessment of the reproductive status of female Atlantic bluefin tuna from the Gulf of Mexico and the Mediterranean Sea.

Despite attention focused on the population status and rebuilding trajectory of Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus), the reproduction and spawning biology remains poorly understood, especially in the NW Atlantic. At present, the eastern and western spawning populations are believed to exhibit different reproductive characteristics and, consequently, stock productivity. However, our study suggests that the two spawning populations, the Gulf of Mexico and the Mediterranean Sea, could show similar reproductive features and spawning strategies. Between 2007 and 2009, gonad samples from female Atlantic bluefin tuna were collected in the northern Gulf of Mexico (n = 147) and in the western Mediterranean Sea (n = 40). The histological and stereological analysis confirmed that sampled eastern and western bluefin tuna exhibit the same spawning duration (three months) but the spawning in the Gulf of Mexico begins one month earlier than in the Mediterranean Sea. Western bluefin tuna caught in the peak of the spawning season (May) showed a similar spawning frequency (60%) to the spawning peak observed in the Mediterranean Sea (June). Fecundity for the Gulf of Mexico fish (28.14 eggs · g(-1)) was lower but not significantly different than for fish sampled in the Mediterranean Sea (45.56 eggs · g(-1)). Our study represents the first comparative histological analysis of the eastern and western spawning stocks whose findings, combined with new determinations of size/age at maturity and possible alternative spawning areas, might suggest basic life history attributes warrant further scientific and management attention.

The need to be Superman: the psychosocial support challenges of young men affected by cancer.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES: To investigate how gender-specific issues shape the experiences of young adult men with cancer and what they report to be problematic. RESEARCH APPROACH: A qualitative, descriptive approach. SETTING: Website, focus group in the southwestern United States, and phone interviews throughout the United States. PARTICIPANTS: Text from an online forum (N=3,000 posts), focus group of six men, and separate interviews with four men. METHODOLOGIC APPROACH: Data analysis took place over two months through constant comparison of online text as well as a focus group and interview transcripts. FINDINGS: Men face challenges being both a receiver and provider of support in relationships with their peers, romantic partners, and children. Cultural expectations to "be strong" drive their support-seeking beliefs and behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: Men report conflict between desires to show strength and to be honest that present a barrier to support, as well as contribute to inadequate relationships with male peers and greater difficulty in exchanging support with romantic partners. INTERPRETATION: The authors identified attitudes about and barriers to men's experiences with social support, which healthcare providers, such as nurses, should be sensitive to when developing and providing support.

Exploring psychosocial support online: a content analysis of messages in an adolescent and young adult cancer community.

The increased usage of online cancer support groups as a resource for health-related information and social support has sparked numerous discussions about the role of online support in healthcare. However, little is known about the role of social-networking groups focused on supporting adolescents and young adults (AYAs) dealing with cancer. The current investigation report findings from a content analysis designed to explore how AYAs use an online support group to meet their psychosocial needs. Overall, members of the community focused on exchanging emotional and informational support, coping with difficult emotions through expression, describing experiences of being an AYA dealing with cancer through language (metaphors), enacting identity through evaluations of the new normal (life with and after cancer), and communicating membership as an AYA with cancer. This study highlights the unique needs of the AYA cancer community and offers a preliminary roadmap for practitioners, and network members, such as family and friends, to attempt to meet the needs of this unique community.