Hormetic stimulation of insects exposed to low intensity stress

Hormesis is a biological response characterized by inhibition of functions with exposure to high amounts of stress, and stimulation of biological processes when the organism is exposed to low amounts of the stressor. That is, mild stress can stimulate biological functions. The emergence of hormesis has fundamentally changed the way scientists think about and study stress in the ‘low dose zone'. My lab uses insects to study hormesis. My long-term research program objective is to use insect models to understand the hormesis dose-response phenomenon, and to use this knowledge for applied entomology. This serves as a foundation for our short-term research questions, all of which will involve training of undergraduate and graduate students: 1. Can multiple mild stressors stimulate biological functions in predictable ways? 2. Can animals at different trophic levels can be simultaneously stimulated by mild stress. 3. Does mild chemical stress stimulate insect behaviours? 4. Can hormetic principles be applied to insects mass reared for commercial production? 5. Can exposure to low stress stimulate learning and reproduction in bees? The proposed work is highly original and of fundamental and practical importance to my discipline and beyond. No studies - even work not involving insects - have examined potential hormetic (stimulatory) effects from multiple mild stressors applied together (including heat shock, a likely scenario in the field with climate change induced weather events), changes to trophic interactions that may manifest from hormetic responses, or potential stimulatory effects on behaviors like feeding. Besides being of fundamental importance to understanding biological systems and functions, this knowledge is of practical ecological significance for insect pest management, e.g., predicting balance between a pest outbreak or increased biological control, particularly in a changing climate, which has crucial ramifications for food security. Similarly, research with crickets will reveal how strategically applying low levels of stress during mass rearing of insects will improve commercial production with increased profitability and nutritional value (e.g. protein content) of this emerging food source. Understanding how to accurately assess threats to bees is critically important, and correctly characterizing stressor dose-response relationships is an indispensable part of that risk assessment process. My proposed experiments on how bees respond to mild stress are potentially ground-breaking and will have significant impact, serving as a "toxicological awakening" for scientists, legislators, and citizens engaged in pollinator risk assessment. Demonstration of insecticide-induced hormesis in bees could lead to new mechanistic and evolutionary insights into how bees adapt to chemical stress and how different doses of chemical stress interact with target sites in bees, while reshaping narrative and policy for pollinator risk assessment.