Understanding the impact of agri-environment schemes on emerging infectious diseases in pollinators

了解农业环境计划对传粉昆虫新发传染病的影响

• 批准号: BB/N000668/1
• 负责人: Mark Brown
• 金额: $ 48.89万
• 依托单位: Royal Holloway University of London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2016 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FN000668%2F1
• 关键词: Understanding; impact; agri; environment; schemes

The devastating spread of the Ebola virus in West Africa is one of many recent examples of emerging diseases that directly impact human health. However, emerging diseases in managed and wild animals may also indirectly affect human health and food security. For example, the global spread of a parasitic mite (called Varroa destructor), and the viruses it transmits, in honeybees has wiped out wild honeybee populations, and driven large declines in the number of managed hives in Europe and North America. As honeybees are important for pollinating crops and producing honey, such losses could have significant impacts on the sustainability of agricultural systems and, thus, through declines in food production, human health.Pollination - the fertilization of flowers to produce seeds and fruit - is a key process in both agricultural and natural environments. While honeybees are important pollinators, wild bees, such as bumblebees, are just as, if not more important for both crops and wildflowers. Consequently, the fact that both honeybees and wild bees are in decline across much of the globe is a major concern. Earlier declines in bumblebees and other wild bees appeared to be driven by the loss of suitable habitat, containing the flowers, nesting sites, and hibernation sites needed for survival. However, recently, major declines in bumblebees in North and South America appear to be related to the spread of emerging pathogens. Thus, the discovery that the viruses driving declines in honeybees are also present in wild bumblebees is deeply worrying. Recent research in the UK has shown that harmful viruses like Deformed Wing Virus are being transmitted to-and-fro between managed honeybees and wild bumblebees. Such transmission may be exacerbated by the planting of nectar and pollen-producing flower strips, one of the major ways farmers try to enhance the populations of wild pollinators for crop pollination. However, we currently do not know the major direction of spread for these viruses - is it from honeybees to bumblebees, or vice versa? - and whether wild-flower strips change the rate and direction of transmission, or the actual mechanics behind how transmission occurs. If we are to manage emerging viral diseases in our essential managed and wild bees, these are the questions we need to address.In our work, we propose to combine real-world and laboratory studies to answer these questions. First, we will sample bees from farms in areas with and without wild-flower strips, and screen them for viruses. We will use new genome sequencing technology, combined with complex statistical models, to determine whether viruses spread predominantly from honeybees to bumblebees, or vice versa, and whether the presence of wild-flower strips enhances transmission or changes its direction. In combination with this, we will conduct controlled experiments in the laboratory to determine how the type of flower and the length of time viral particles are on flowers, affect the likelihood of a flower-visiting bee becoming infected. This will help us to understand the fine-scale mechanisms by which transmission among bees takes place. Finally, we will conduct large experiments with whole hives of bees in polytunnels to test how the density of flowers, type of flowers, and density of bees determine the rate of viral spread. Together, these laboratory and semi-field (polytunnel) experiments will help us to understand the patterns of transmission found in wild bees from the first part of the project. Ultimately, we will use these results to make recommendations on how to reduce the transmission of emerging viruses among our wild and managed bees, and thus enhance their populations while maximising pollination of both crops and wildflowers in the UK landscape

埃博拉病毒在西非的毁灭性传播是最近许多直接影响人类健康的新出现疾病的例子之一。然而，管理动物和野生动物中新出现的疾病也可能间接影响人类健康和粮食安全。例如，一种寄生螨（称为狄斯瓦螨）及其传播的病毒在蜜蜂中的全球传播已经消灭了野生蜜蜂种群，并导致欧洲和北美管理的蜂箱数量大幅下降。由于蜜蜂对农作物授粉和生产蜂蜜很重要，这种损失可能对农业系统的可持续性产生重大影响，从而通过粮食产量的下降影响人类健康。授粉-花的受精以产生种子和果实-是农业和自然环境中的一个关键过程。虽然蜜蜂是重要的授粉者，但野生蜜蜂，如熊蜂，对作物和野花来说，即使不是更重要，也是一样重要。因此，蜜蜂和野生蜜蜂在地球仪的大部分地区都在减少，这是一个主要的问题。大黄蜂和其他野生蜜蜂的早期下降似乎是由于失去了合适的栖息地，包括生存所需的花朵，筑巢地点和冬眠地点。然而，最近，北美和南美的大黄蜂数量大幅下降，似乎与新出现的病原体的传播有关。因此，导致蜜蜂数量下降的病毒也存在于野生大黄蜂中的发现令人深感担忧。英国最近的研究表明，畸形翼病毒等有害病毒正在管理蜜蜂和野生大黄蜂之间来回传播。这种传播可能会因种植花蜜和花粉生产花带而加剧，这是农民试图增加作物授粉的野生传粉者数量的主要方法之一。然而，我们目前还不知道这些病毒的主要传播方向-是从蜜蜂到大黄蜂，还是反之亦然？- 以及野花条是否改变了传播的速度和方向，或者传播发生背后的实际机制。如果我们要在我们的基本管理和野生蜜蜂中管理新出现的病毒性疾病，这些是我们需要解决的问题。在我们的工作中，我们建议将联合收割机结合现实世界和实验室研究来回答这些问题。首先，我们将从有和没有野花带的地区的农场采集蜜蜂样本，并对它们进行病毒筛查。我们将使用新的基因组测序技术，结合复杂的统计模型，以确定病毒是否主要从蜜蜂传播到熊蜂，反之亦然，以及野花带的存在是否会增强传播或改变其方向。结合这一点，我们将在实验室进行对照实验，以确定花的类型和病毒颗粒在花上的时间长短如何影响访花蜜蜂被感染的可能性。这将有助于我们理解蜜蜂之间传播的精细机制。最后，我们将在多通道中对整个蜂箱进行大型实验，以测试花的密度、花的类型和蜜蜂的密度如何决定病毒传播的速度。总之，这些实验室和半现场（polytunnel）实验将帮助我们了解该项目第一部分中在野生蜜蜂中发现的传播模式。最终，我们将利用这些结果提出建议，说明如何减少新出现的病毒在我们的野生和管理蜜蜂中的传播，从而增加它们的种群，同时最大限度地提高英国景观中作物和野花的授粉。

项目成果

ESM file 1 from Host density drives viral, but not trypanosome, transmission in a key pollinator.

来自宿主密度的 ESM 文件 1 驱动关键授粉媒介中的病毒传播，但不驱动锥虫传播。

• DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.11337143
• 发表时间: 2019
• 作者: Bailes E

A horizon scan of future threats and opportunities for pollinators and pollination

对传粉媒介和授粉的未来威胁和机遇进行地平线扫描

• DOI: 10.7287/peerj.preprints.2006
• 发表时间: 2016
• 作者: Brown M

Increasing flower species richness in agricultural landscapes alters insect pollinator networks: Implications for bee health and competition.

• DOI: 10.1002/ece3.9442
• 发表时间: 2022-10
• 期刊: Ecology and evolution
• 影响因子: 2.6

First detection of bee viruses in hoverfly (syrphid) pollinators: Supplementary methods & results.

首次在食蚜蝇传粉媒介中检测到蜜蜂病毒：补充方法

• DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.5896849
• 发表时间: 2018
• 作者: Bailes E

First detection of bee viruses in hoverfly (syrphid) pollinators.

• DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2018.0001
• 发表时间: 2018-03
• 期刊: Biology letters
• 影响因子: 3.3
• 作者: Bailes EJ;Deutsch KR;Bagi J;Rondissone L;Brown MJF;Lewis OT
• 通讯作者: Lewis OT