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Larval exposure to the neonicotinoid imidacloprid impacts adult size in the farmland butterfly Pieris brassicae

Whitehorn, Penelope R. 1; Norville, George; Gilburn, Andre; Goulson, Dave
1 Institut für Meteorologie und Klimaforschung – Atmosphärische Umweltforschung (IMK-IFU), Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)

Abstract:

Populations of farmland butterflies have been suffering from substantial population declines in recent decades. These declines have been correlated with neonicotinoid usage both in Europe and North America but experimental evidence linking these correlations is lacking. The potential for non-target butterflies to be exposed to trace levels of neonicotinoids is high, due to the widespread contamination of agricultural soils and wild plants in field margins. Here we provide experimental evidence that field realistic, sub-lethal exposure to the neonicotinoid imidacloprid negatively impacts the development of the common farmland butterfly Pieris brassicae. Cabbage plants were watered with either 0, 1, 10, 100 or 200 parts per billion imidacloprid, to represent field margin plants growing in contaminated agricultural soils and these were fed to P. brassicae larvae. The approximate digestibility (AD) of the cabbage as well as behavioural responses by the larvae to simulated predator attacks were measured but neither were affected by neonicotinoid treatment. However, the duration of pupation and the size of the adult butterflies were both significantly reduced in the exposed butterflies compared to the controls, suggesting that adult fitness is compromised through exposure to this neonicotinoid.


Verlagsausgabe §
DOI: 10.5445/IR/1000083653
Veröffentlicht am 22.06.2018
Originalveröffentlichung
DOI: 10.7717/peerj.4772
Scopus
Zitationen: 24
Web of Science
Zitationen: 24
Dimensions
Zitationen: 28
Cover der Publikation
Zugehörige Institution(en) am KIT Institut für Meteorologie und Klimaforschung – Atmosphärische Umweltforschung (IMK-IFU)
KIT-Zentrum Klima und Umwelt (ZKU)
Publikationstyp Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Publikationsjahr 2018
Sprache Englisch
Identifikator ISSN: 2167-8359
urn:nbn:de:swb:90-836539
KITopen-ID: 1000083653
HGF-Programm 12.02.02 (POF III, LK 01) Vegetation climate- and land use system
Erschienen in PeerJ
Verlag PeerJ
Band 2018
Heft 5
Seiten e4772
Nachgewiesen in Web of Science
Scopus
Dimensions
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