DOI: 10.5061/dryad.4f6t3b5
title: Data from: Foraging bumblebees acquire a preference for neonicotinoid-treated food with prolonged exposure

description: Social bees represent an important group of pollinating insects but can be
 exposed to potentially harmful pesticides when foraging on treated or
 contaminated flowering plants. To investigate if such exposure is
 detrimental to bees, many studies have exclusively fed individuals with
 pesticide spiked food, informing us about the hazard but not necessarily
 the risk of exposure. Whilst such studies are important to establish the
 physiological and behavioural effects on individuals they do not consider
 the possibility that exposure may change over time. For example, many
 pesticide assays exclude potential behavioural adaptations, such as a
 rejection of harmful compounds by choosing to feed on an uncontaminated
 food source, which would behaviourally lower the risk of exposure. Here we
 conducted an experiment over 10 days in which bumblebees forage on an
 array of sucrose feeders containing a range of concentrations (0, 2
 & 11 parts per billion) of the neonicotinoid pesticide
 thiamethoxam. We more closely mimic pesticide exposure in the wild by
 allowing foraging bees to experience i) a range of pesticide
 concentrations across a chronic exposure period, ii) repeated interactions
 with the pesticide, and iii) allowing foraging bees to retain the social
 cues associated with foraging by using whole colonies. We found that the
 proportion of visits to pesticide-laced feeders increased over time,
 resulting in the consumption of more pesticide-laced sucrose. After
 changing the spatial position of each feeder, foragers continued to
 preferentially visit the pesticide-laced food, indicating that workers can
 detect thiamethoxam and alter their behaviour to continue feeding from it.
 The increasing preference for consuming the neonicotinoid treated food,
 therefore increases the risk of exposure for the colony during prolonged
 pesticide exposure. Our results highlight the need to incorporate
 attractiveness of field relevant concentrations of pesticides to foraging
 bees (and other insect p
description: colony_level_visits_&_feed_timecolony_level_visits_&_feed_time.csv Data for Table S4, proportion of bees visiting each pesticide concentration Data for Table S5, count of bees visiting each pesticide concentration Data for Table S6, average time spent feeding at each pesticide concentrationcommited_foragerscommited_foragers.csv Data for Table S7, proportion of foraging trips to each concentration made by 31 beesvolume_datavolume_data.csv Data for Table S3, average volume of sucrose consumed from each pesticide concentration01_dryad_colony_level_ consumption01_dryad_colony_level_ consumption.R Analysing the volume of sucrose consumed by each colony Contains code for replicating Fig 1d.02_dryad_colony_&_individual_level_proportion_of_visits02_dryad_colony_&_individual_level_proportion_of_visits.R Analysing the proportion of bees visiting each pesticide concentration Contains code for replicating Fig 1e. Analysing the number of bees visiting each pesticide concentration Analysing the average time spent feeding at each pesticide concentration Analysing the proportion of foraging trips to each concentration made by 31 bees Contains code for replicating Fig S4.readmeInformation about the analysis