<b>Acoustic phenotyping reveals sublethal pesticide effects in bees using BEEhaviourLab</b>

Acoustic behaviours such as buzzing are central to insect locomotion and communication but are rarely measured systematically, and their potential as sensitive indicators of environmental stress remains largely unexplored. Here, we test whether changes in insect acoustic behaviour can reveal sublethal effects of pesticide exposure.

Using a newly developed automated behavioural platform (BEEhaviourLab), we recorded synchronised video and audio from insects, enabling simultaneous, high-throughput quantification of locomotor activity and buzzing behaviour across multiple individuals and species without the need for tagging. We applied this system to characterise the effects of the veterinary antiparasitic moxidectin on the bumble bee <i>Bombus terrestris</i>.