Project description
Impact of pesticides on honeybees
Honeybees play a role in pollination and exhibit complex learning processes essential for their foraging success. However, pesticide exposure can adversely affect their health and cognitive abilities. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the TOXIBEECOG project will explore how exposure to neonicotinoids and sulfoxamine influences honeybee performance across three learning tasks with varying cognitive complexities: developmental learning (DL), reinforcement learning (RL), and negative patterning learning (NPL). DL involves simple associative learning, RL requires flexibility in the face of transient ambiguity, and NPL deals with constant stimulus ambiguity. The project aims to uncover the impact of pesticides on higher-order problem-solving skills and the neural mechanisms that underlie these cognitive changes.
Objective
Honey bees play a key role in diverse ecosystems due to their pollination services. This activity depends on the capacity to learn and memorize floral olfactory and visual cues, thus bees are not only able of simple associative learning but also master higher-order forms of learning. Reversal learning (RL) and Negative Patterning Learning (NPL) help bees to effectively exploit complex environments. Foraging leads to pesticidal exposure, contributing to the concerning decline of bee health. Several studies revealed the adverse effects of pesticides on bee health, but their impact on higher-order cognition is still unaddressed. Focusing on this vital form of behavioural plasticity is important as it could reveal pesticide impairments at unsuspected low doses, as compared to simpler and more robust learning tasks (e.g. Differential Learning, DL). Thus, it is relevant and timely to explore the impact of pesticides on higher-order cognition in bees, focusing on both classic (neonicotinoid) and newer (sulfoxamine) common insecticides. Here, we aim to investigate the impact of field-realistic exposure to a neonicotinoid and a sulfoxamine on three ecologically relevant learning tasks of varying cognitive complexity (DL, RL, NPL). While DL is a case of simple associative learning, RL involves transient stimulus ambiguity and requires learning flexibility; NPL is a case of non elemental learning as stimulus ambiguity is constantly present during the learning task. These problems will be studied in the olfactory domain, using olfactory conditioning, and in the visual domain, using a virtual reality approach. These protocols will be combined with various forms of pesticide exposure. We will determine how pesticides affect higher-order problem-solving in bees and will provide insights into the underlying neural mechanisms of pesticide effect on learning and memory. Our project represents an innovative initiative aiming at bridging the gap between cognition and ecotoxicology.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences health sciences public health
- natural sciences biological sciences ecology ecosystems
- medical and health sciences basic medicine toxicology
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01
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75794 Paris
France
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