Revue d'Hyménoptérologie

Journal of Hymenopterology

ISSN 2727-3806

ARTICLE

Soda maker for field anesthesia as a step towards a non-lethal identification of wild bees and other flower visitors

Megan Toulzac, Mériem Methlouthi, Adrien Perrard
PDF
Citation
Toulzac, M., M. Methoulthi & A. Perrard (2022). Soda maker for field anesthesia as a step towards a non-lethal identification of wild bees and other flower visitors. Osmia, 10: 25–34. https://doi.org/10.47446/OSMIA10.3
Received 04 November 2021 - Accepted 06 June 2022 - Published (online) 08 June 2022

Indexation • Archivage - Archiving
Supplementary materials
Abstract
Species identification is currently a strong limitation to wild pollinator studies. It requires killing specimens for laboratory analyses, which can pose ethical issues in some programs of conservation biology and citizen science. The recent development of image-based identification tools using machine learning could challenge the current paradigm of required specimen euthanasia for species identification. However, to be accurate, these new methods call for standardized images or images of precise characters that are difficult or even impossible to obtain on live specimens. To facilitate the acquisition of these pictures, we tested two in-situ CO2 anesthesia protocols using material easily available, even in citizen science programs. We measured the time of anesthesia of 196 flower visitors belonging to the Hymenoptera and Diptera orders. The most efficient protocol enabled us to anesthetize 90 % of the specimens for more than a minute with a marginal mortality (1.5 %). Anesthesia time increased with specimen size in Hymenoptera and decreased with air temperature. Diptera were less sensitive to anesthesia. Further analyses would be required to investigate the potential sublethal effects of these anesthesia. These preliminary results suggest nonetheless that CO2-based anesthesia could help the development of non-lethal methods of wild pollinator identifications.

Keywords
Anesthesia duration, pollinators, Hymenoptera, Diptera, CO2, citizen science

Titre (traduction)
L’anesthésie sur le terrain par machine à soda, un moyen de faciliter le développement de méthodes non létales d’identification des abeilles sauvages et autres visiteurs floraux

Résumé
L’une des limites actuelles à l’étude des pollinisateurs sauvages est la difficulté d’identifier ces insectes au niveau de l’espèce. Le développement d’outils d’identification sur images par intelligence artificielle ouvre de nouvelles perspectives par rapport au paradigme actuel d’euthanasie des spécimens pour les identifier en laboratoire. Cependant, l’obtention d’images de référence standardisées ou de caractères morpho-anatomiques précis nécessaires à ces outils est difficile, voire impossible sur un spécimen actif. Pour faciliter l’obtention de ces photos, nous avons testé deux protocoles d’anesthésie au CO2 de spécimens sur le terrain avec un matériel accessible au grand public. Nous avons mesuré le temps d’anesthésie sur 196 visiteurs de fleurs, hyménoptères et diptères. Avec le protocole le plus performant, 90 % des insectes étaient anesthésiés pendant plus d’une minute. La mortalité due au traitement était marginale (1,5 %). La durée de l’anesthésie augmentait avec la température de l’air, ainsi qu’avec la taille des spécimens chez les hyménoptères. Les diptères étaient moins sensibles à l’anesthésie que les hyménoptères. Des études complémentaires seraient nécessaires pour appréhender les effets sublétaux potentiels de ces anesthésies. Néanmoins, l’anesthésie au CO2 sur le terrain pourrait faciliter le développement de méthodes non-létales d’identification des pollinisateurs.
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Mots-clefs
Durée d’anesthésie, pollinisateurs, Hymenoptera, Diptera, CO2, science participative

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