Farming giving foraging bees brain fog

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2024-08-13 01:00

International

Photo by Franz Michael Schneeberger via Unsplash

The abilities of honeybees are impaired by exposure to agricultural chemicals, a new study from Argentina has found. The bees' senses were tested by seeing whether they responded to a sugar solution, and their mental ability by teaching them to associate a smell with a sugar reward. Genes for social responsiveness in their brains were also analysed. The foraging bees collected more pollen from flowers with pesticide contamination, but exposure to these chemicals impaired their senses, lowered their ability to learn and respond to smells, and altered genes important for metabolism, immunity, and nervous system function.

Journal/
conference: One Earth

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Universidad de Buenos Aires

Funder: The authors thank the Faculty of Agronomic Sciences of the UBA for using facilities and lodges in the San Claudio Farm. The authors are grateful to Ignacio Rivas Fontan, the beekeeper Javier Benintende, and personnel of the San Claudio Farm for their kind help during the field stays. Likewise, we thank the UBA, the Institute of Rural Engineering (INTA), CONICET, and INTA PROAPI for their support. This study was supported by grants from the University of Buenos Aires (20020170100078BA), CONICET (PIP 11220200102201CO), and ANPCyT (PICT 2019 2438) to W.M.F. and INTA PROAPI Q13 (2019-PE-E1-I017-001) to I.N.M.

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