Acute Exposure to Traces of Chlorantraniliprole Does Not Alter Antipredator Behaviour in Wild Crickets

Exposure to sublethal concentrations and low, non-target pesticide residues is now a common scenario for insects sharing their habitat with human agriculture. Such exposures have the potential to disrupt behaviour. However, much of this evidence comes from laboratory studies under controlled conditions and is concentrated on a limited range of taxa and pesticide classes, particularly pollinators. We tested whether exposure to a low, residue-level concentration of chlorantraniliprole, a widely used insecticide known for its long environmental persistence, affected antipredator escape behaviours in wild field crickets (Gryllus campestris). Adult crickets were treated with either pesticide or a sham control. They then underwent behavioural tests in the wild. Following a simulated predator attack, we measured two key behaviours: escape speed and subsequent latency to re-emerge from their burrow. We found no consistent effects of pesticide exposure on either behaviour. Re-emergence latency increased over successive days across both groups, while escape speed did not change. Our findings indicate that a single, acute, residue-level exposure to chlorantraniliprole did not measurably alter the anti-predator behaviours we studied during the days immediately after exposure. Our study contributes one piece of the broader jigsaw needed to understand the behavioural effects of environmentally relevant pesticide exposure in nature.