fig1
Figure 1. Schematic diagram illustrating pesticide-mediated microbiome effects on plants and insect pollinators. Insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides are commonly used to prevent crop diseases and minimize interference of crop pests in agriculture. These chemicals are widely popular for their perceptible benefits to crop health and yields over the short term. However, their unintentional antimicrobial effects can deteriorate the health-promoting microbial communities associated with plants and pollinators via chronic exposure through plant root exudate and pollen consumption, respectively. Ultimately, the feedback effects on host species have the potential to reduce long-term crop yields (via depletion of plant-growth promoting symbionts) and bee populations (via depletion of immune-regulating and pathogen excluding symbionts).