Pesticides and pollinators: Identifying the behavioral impacts of chronic neonicotinoid exposure in bumblebees

Bees and other social insects provide vital ecosystem services, including supporting biodiversity and agricultural yields, but these insects are threatened by rapid, anthropogenic environmental change. This talk will explore our recent efforts to understand how bumblebee societies cope with environmental stressors (e.g., pesticide exposure, temperature stress, and predation) and will highlight the potential of emerging tools in automation and robotics for illuminating how global environmental change is affecting the dynamics of social insect societies and the ecosystem services they provide.