Ian Laycock
Department: College of Life and Environmental Sciences
Discipline: Biosciences
Research Centre/Unit: Environment and Evolution
Project Summary
2010-Present
There is increasing concern about declining bee populations and some blame the residues of neonicotinoid pesticides that appear in the nectar and pollen of treated crops. My PhD (funded by NERC) involved research into the impact on bees of neonicotinoid pesticides. Specifically, I investigated the sub-lethal effects and effect mechanisms of dietary neonicotinoids in bumble bees (Bombus spp.) and honey bees (Apis mellifera) at both the individual and colony level, with a particular focus on the potential links between neonicotinoid pesticides and reported bee population declines.
Supervisory Team
Authored Publications/Reports
Choudhary, A.F., Laycock, I., Wright, G.A. (2012) γ-Aminobutyric acid receptor A-mediated inhibition in the honeybee’s antennal lobe is necessary for the formation of configural olfactory percepts, European Journal of Neuroscience, 35 (11), 1718–1724.
Laycock, I., Lenthall, K.M., Barratt, A.T., Cresswell, J.E. (2012) Effects of imidacloprid, a neonicotinoid pesticide, on reproduction in worker bumble bees (Bombus terrestris), Ecotoxicology, 21, 1937-1945
Cresswell, J.E., Page, C.J., Uygun, M.B., Holmbergh, M., Li, Y., Wheeler, J.G., Laycock, I., Pook, C.J., Hempel de Ibarra, N., Smirnoff, N. and Tyler, C.R. (2012) Differential sensitivity of honey bees and bumble bees to a dietary insecticide (imidacloprid), Zoology, 115, 365-371 (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0944200612000694)
Cresswell, J.E. and Laycock, I. (2012) Towards the comparative ecotoxicology of bees: the response-response relationship, Julius-Kühn-Archiv, 437, 55-60, DOI: 10.5073/jka.2012.437.010 (pub.jki.bund.de/index.php/JKA/article/download/1936/2312)
Laycock, I., Cresswell, J.E. (2013) Repression and Recuperation of Brood Production in Bombus terrestris Bumble Bees Exposed to a Pulse of the Neonicotinoid Pesticide Imidacloprid, PLOS ONE, 8(11), e79872. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0079872
Laycock, I., Cotterell, K.C., O'Shea-Wheller, T.A., Cresswell, J.E. (2013) Effects of the neonicotinoid pesticide thiamethoxam at field-realistic levels on microcolonies of Bombus terrestris worker bumble bees, Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoenv.2013.10.027)
