Pervasiveness of Parasites in Pollinators
Pervasiveness of Parasites in Pollinators
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DOI：
10.1371/journal.pone.0030641
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发表时间：
2012-01-26
期刊：
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Hughes, William O. H.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Evison, Sophie E. F.;Roberts, Katherine E.;Hughes, William O. H.
许多传粉者的数量正在减少，这对经济和生态造成了巨大的影响。寄生虫是蜜蜂和熊蜂种群数量下降的一个重要因素，但人们对寄生在大多数其他传粉者身上的寄生虫知之甚少，也不知道寄生虫的种间传播或媒介传播的程度。在这里，我们对英国的传粉者(蜜蜂、5种大黄蜂、3种黄蜂、4种飞蝇和3属其他蜜蜂)进行了寄生虫的初步筛选。我们使用分子方法来筛选六种蜜蜂病毒，马尾藻真菌，微孢子虫和沃尔巴克氏胞内细菌。我们的目标只是检测寄生虫的存在，包括媒介和实际感染。许多所有类型的传粉者都对Ascosphaera真菌呈阳性，而微孢子虫则较为罕见，最常见的是熊蜂。我们还检测到大多数传粉者对沃尔巴克氏杆菌呈阳性，很可能表明感染了这种细胞内共生菌，并增加了它可能是影响寄主性别比例或不同传粉者适合度的一个重要因素。重要的是，我们发现大约三分之一的大黄蜂(Bombus pascuorum和Bombus terrestris)和三分之一的黄蜂(Vespua Common Garis)以及所有蜜蜂都对变形翅膀病毒呈阳性，但这种病毒在其他传粉者中不存在。因此，变形翅病毒似乎不是传粉者的一种普通寄生虫，但确实与至少三种大黄蜂和黄蜂有显著的相互作用。需要进一步的工作来确定一些寄生虫的身份，它们的时空变化，以及它们是感染各种传粉者物种还是被媒介传播。然而，这些结果提供了对传粉者群落中寄生虫的多样性和潜在交换的第一次洞察。
Many pollinator populations are declining, with large economic and ecological implications. Parasites are known to be an important factor in the some of the population declines of honey bees and bumblebees, but little is known about the parasites afflicting most other pollinators, or the extent of interspecific transmission or vectoring of parasites. Here we carry out a preliminary screening of pollinators (honey bees, five species of bumblebee, three species of wasp, four species of hoverfly and three genera of other bees) in the UK for parasites. We used molecular methods to screen for six honey bee viruses, Ascosphaera fungi, Microsporidia, and Wolbachia intracellular bacteria. We aimed simply to detect the presence of the parasites, encompassing vectoring as well as actual infections. Many pollinators of all types were positive for Ascosphaera fungi, while Microsporidia were rarer, being most frequently found in bumblebees. We also detected that most pollinators were positive for Wolbachia, most probably indicating infection with this intracellular symbiont, and raising the possibility that it may be an important factor in influencing host sex ratios or fitness in a diversity of pollinators. Importantly, we found that about a third of bumblebees (Bombus pascuorum and Bombus terrestris) and a third of wasps (Vespula vulgaris), as well as all honey bees, were positive for deformed wing virus, but that this virus was not present in other pollinators. Deformed wing virus therefore does not appear to be a general parasite of pollinators, but does interact significantly with at least three species of bumblebee and wasp. Further work is needed to establish the identity of some of the parasites, their spatiotemporal variation, and whether they are infecting the various pollinator species or being vectored. However, these results provide a first insight into the diversity, and potential exchange, of parasites in pollinator communities.