Question at position 10 You are conducting a study on pathogen spillover at a wildflower meadow. After analyzing samples, you find that 78% of wild bees visiting flowers previously visited by honey bees carry honey bee-specific pathogens. What is the most likely mode of transmission?Airborne transmission through sporesPathogen spillover occurring on shared flowersDirect contact between honey bees and wild beesPheromones attracting pathogens to wild bees

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BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

Let's analyze the scenario and each option in turn, focusing on how the data about 78% of wild bees carrying honey bee–specific pathogens after visiting flowers previously visited by honey bees informs the likely transmission route.
Option 1: Airborne transmission through spores. This would require pathogens to become airborne and travel between colonies or individuals without requiring contact with a contaminated surface. In the context of bee pathogens and a shared floral environment, airborne spread is less consistent with a pattern where the key correlate is shared floral visitation rather than proximity alone. The high proportion of wild bees infected after visiting flowers previously used by honey bees points to a surface- or contact-associated transfer rather than primarily airborne spread.
Option 2: Pathogen spillover occurring on shared flowers. This is the mechanism most supported by the data: if both honey bees and wild bees visit the same flowers, pathogens from honey bees can contaminate the floral surfaces and be picked up by subsequent visitors, leading to spillover. The 78% figure is characteristic of a shared-resource–mediated transmission pathway, where the flower serves as a common medium enabling transfer between species during sequential visits.
Option 3: Direct contact between honey bees and wild bees. Direct physical contact between the two bee species could facilitate transmission, but in a meadow with many flowers, the dominant route for cross-species exposure is typically through shared floral surfaces rather than frequent direct encounters. The observed high rate of infection linked to shared flower visitation points more strongly to an intermediary via the flower than to direct contact events.
Option 4: Pheromones attracting pathogens to wild bees. Pathogens are not typically guided by pheromones in a way that causes attraction-based transmission between species. Pheromonal signaling drives behavior in bees, but there is no established mechanism by which pheromones would direct honey bee pathogens to wild bees; the data align better with environmental contamination and uptake through shared resources rather than chemically attracted pathogen movement.
In summary, the pattern of pathogen presence in wild bees following visits to flowers used by honey bees is best explained by a spillover mechanism mediated by shared floral surfaces, rather than airborne spread, frequent direct bee–bee contact, or pheromone-driven pathogen attraction.

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