Insects and Society: The Buzzing Consequences of Microplastic Pollution

By Kaylen Maat, Bridget Walicki, and Molly Witkop

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In today's day and age, the world is filled with an alarming amount of pollutants. While most people are aware of major issues such as global warming and climate change, some tend to forget about the ‘smaller’ problems such as microplastics. When you hear the words plastic pollution, you may think of turtles dying from plastic filling their guts; however, you may not think of these plastics harming little bees. Microplastics can be everywhere from beauty products to the innermost systems of honey bees. Microplastics, or plastic pollutants smaller than five millimeters, infiltrate our environment by breaking off of larger plastics. The overall high use of plastic has led to an abundance of these particles in the environment. Sea turtles and other aquatic life are not the only ones harmed by the amount of microplastics circulating. Recently, a study in China was released that showed the impact of these microplastics on honey bees and their overall health.

The article “Microscopic Polystyrene Ingestion Promotes the Susceptibility of Honeybee to Viral Infection” by Deng et. al., dives into the consequences of microplastics, and how exposure made honey bees more susceptible to viral infections. The researchers suggest that the bees might ingest microplastics by consuming nectar, pollen, or water that is contaminated, as well as through its adhesion to their body hairs. The scientists then studied the bees to see if and how the plastics move throughout their guts into their tissues. This is significant to study as it impacts overall honey bee health. Humans are inherently invested in honey bee health because they are vital pollinators that keep the ecosystem going and also help produce the products that humans profit from.

The researchers conducted their experiment through a study where they used two types of honey bees: Apis mellifera and Apis cerana. For each species, three colonies were randomly selected from the provinces of Beijing, Jilin, and Henan where the experiment was conducted. Researchers then collected 50 bees from the three colonies and tested for microplastics, where they found around 20 different types. After identifying the different types of microplastics using a search algorithm and database, the researchers chose Polystyrene, a common microplastic used in packaging materials and disposable products, as the focus of their study.

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Furthering their research, 30 bees were transferred into a separate colony, starved for two hours, then given a 50% sugar solution mixed with varying strengths of Polystyrene each day. The bees were then injected with synthetic RNA to promote the Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus, a viral infection common to bees, to help investigate the hypothesis that Polystyrene ingestion made honey bees more prone to infection. The scientists then observed the mortality rate while maintaining a control group. The researchers then proceeded to investigate the dead honey bees, dissecting the tissues of 5 bees from each group, every 7 days throughout a 21-day process. During this time, the researchers dissected and examined the microplastic effects on multiple internal organs.

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Once the experiments concluded, the results were startling: honey bees that ingested Polystyrene were not only more susceptible to viral infections but also exhibited a decrease in overall health. Throughout the experiment, there were multiple microplastics present. These plastic polymers were detected in 66.7% of bee samples with varying amounts ranging from 1 to 2 per 0.5g honey bee samples. The most common color of plastic item found within the honey bees was transparent.

Over the 14 days of the exposure treatment, the survival rate of honey bees was significantly lower than that in the control group. The honey bees within the Polystyrene group with the virus had a significantly higher death rate than those with just the virus. Additional findings suggested that after interactions with Polystyrene and the virus, honey bees experienced a decrease in flight ability and other natural behaviors. Further results showed that Polystyrene significantly induced visible body color changes and hair fall after exposure to 0.5 and 5μm. Among the researchers' final results was that interactions between Polystyrene and honey bees can lead to accumulation in the bees’ body and across the gut into other tissues, thus resulting in the honey bees becoming more vulnerable to infections.

Given that microplastic debris is highly mobile, the potential risks to and impacts on honey bees and the environment can be severe. The microplastics in honey bees can have negative implications for agricultural sustainability as honey bees are major representatives of pollinators. As these pollutants accumulate, they can transfer into honey bees and bee products, such as honey, beebread, and beeswax, to be potential indicators of the presence of contaminants in the environment.

Understanding the connection between microplastics and bee health is crucial in mitigating human activities' impact on the environment. The article “Microscopic Polystyrene Ingestion Promotes the Susceptibility of Honeybee to Viral Infection” demonstrated how the presence of microplastics leads to increased vulnerability to viral infections for honey bees, which causes a higher mortality rate. These tiny plastics may be small in size but are mighty with the amount of damage they can inflict on the environment.

Insects and Society

Friday, December 22, 2023

The Buzzing Consequences of Microplastic Pollution

The Buzzing Consequences of Microplastic Pollution

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