Interactive effects of diet, tebuconazole, and elevated temperature on survival and body water loss in honey bee...

Nutrition strongly shapes honey bee resilience, especially when bees face multiple environmental stressors. This study examined how different carbohydrate and commercial protein diets influence honey bee responses to residue-level tebuconazole exposure and short-term heat stress (40°C for 48 h). Mortality, food intake, and body water loss were measured under each treatment. Diet had a significant effect on survival: among carbohydrate diets, bees fed the control diet showed the lowest mortality, whereas rapeseed honey caused the highest. For protein diets, sugar candy and the vegetable protein diet yielded the highest survival, in contrast to the pollen-based feed. Food intake varied widely across diets and showed a positive association with mortality. The presence of tebuconazole in diets did not induce avoidance or reduce consumption. Water loss was inversely associated with mortality, suggesting complex physiological trade-offs. Tebuconazole did not cause acute lethal effects, contributing to current evaluations of fungicide risks.