Pathogen transmission between domesticated and wild host species has important implications for community ecology, agriculture, and wildlife conservation. Bumble bees provide valuable pollination services that are vital for both wildflowers and agricultural production. Intense concerns about pathogen spillover from commercial bumble bees to wild bee populations, and the potential harmful effects of pathogen spillback to commercial bees, has stimulated a need for practical strategies that effectively manage bumble bee infectious diseases. Here, we assessed the costs and benefits of a medicinal sunflower pollen diet (Helianthus annuus) on whole-colony bumble bee disease and performance using commercial colonies of the common eastern bumble bee, Bombus impatiens, and its protozoan pathogen, Crithidia bombi (Trypanosomatida). We first found that a 1:1 mixture of sunflower combined with wildflower pollen reduced C. bombi infection prevalence and intensity within individual B. impatiens workers by nearly 4-fold and 12-fold, respectively, relative to wildflower pollen. At the colony level, a 1:1 mixture of sunflower and wildflower pollen reduced C. bombi infection prevalence by 11% averaged over a 10-week period and infection intensity by 30% relative to wildflower pollen. Colony performance was similar between pollen diets and infection treatments, including the number of workers and immatures produced, and size and weight of workers, drones, and queens. Infection significantly reduced the probability of queen production in colonies fed a pure wildflower pollen diet, but not colonies fed a mixed sunflower pollen diet, suggesting that the medicinal benefits of a mixed sunflower pollen diet can reverse the negative effects of infection on reproductive success. This study provides evidence that sunflower pollen as part of a mixed pollen diet can reduce infection in individual bees and whole colonies with no significant nutritional trade-offs for colony worker production and most aspects of colony reproduction. A supplemental mixed sunflower pollen diet may provide a simple and effective solution to reduce disease and improve the health of economically and ecologically important pollinators.

中文翻译：

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向日葵花粉饮食对熊蜂群疾病和健康的成本和收益

驯化宿主物种和野生宿主物种之间的病原体传播对社区生态、农业和野生动物保护具有重要意义。大黄蜂提供宝贵的授粉服务，这对野花和农业生产都至关重要。对病原体从商业熊蜂向野生蜜蜂种群的溢出以及病原体向商业蜜蜂溢出的潜在有害影响的强烈关注，刺激了对有效管理熊蜂传染病的实用策略的需求。在这里，我们评估了药用向日葵花粉饮食（的成本和收益向日葵 向日葵）的全殖民地大黄蜂疾病和性能使用共同的东大黄蜂，商业殖民地熊蜂凤仙, 及其原生动物病原体Crithidia bombi (Trypanosomatida)。我们首先发现，与野花花粉相比，向日葵与野花花粉的 1:1 混合物使凤仙花个体工人体内的凤仙花感染流行率和强度分别降低了近 4 倍和 12 倍。在菌落水平上，向日葵和野花花粉的 1:1 混合物减少了C. bombi相对于野花花粉，在 10 周内平均感染率增加了 11%，感染强度增加了 30%。花粉饮食和感染治疗之间的菌落表现相似，包括产生的工蚁和未成熟幼蚁的数量，以及工蚁、雄蜂和蜂后的大小和重量。在喂食纯野花花粉饮食的群体中，感染显着降低了蜂王生产的可能性，但喂食混合向日葵花粉饮食的群体则不然，这表明混合向日葵花粉饮食的药用价值可以逆转感染对繁殖成功的负面影响。这项研究提供的证据表明，向日葵花粉作为混合花粉饮食的一部分可以减少单个蜜蜂和整个蜂群的感染，而对蜂群工人生产和蜂群繁殖的大多数方面没有显着的营养权衡。补充混合向日葵花粉饮食可以提供一种简单有效的解决方案，以减少疾病并改善在经济和生态上具有重要意义的传粉媒介的健康。