Exposure to pesticide sprays is widely known to harm honey bees.
A recent study has revealed its impact on their sense of smell, potentially disrupting their communication signals.
Let's find out more about it.
Bees are in danger
Honey bees live in busy communities and use special chemicals to talk to each other.
Nurse bees take care of the baby bees and use special smells to check on them, even when it's dark.
The baby bees release a smell to ask for food, and the worker bees release a smell to say there's danger.
However, if these cues are impaired or misunderstood, the entire colony's well-being may suffer.
Insecticides have been a known stressor for honey bees since 2007, and the concern extends to fungicides as well, which were previously considered harmless to insects.
Mixing these chemicals can disrupt colony function.
There have been reports from almond orchards, where many honey bees in the US go during blooming season, that suggest problems with pesticide sprays.
The problem is with certain chemicals called adjuvants, which are supposed to be harmless but actually make insecticides stick better to plants.
Unlike other insect-killing chemicals, adjuvants haven't been tested enough to make sure they're safe.
Recent studies have found that adjuvants, whether used alone or together with fungicides and insecticides, can be harmful to bees.
More research required
To understand the effects of these combinations on nurse bees, researchers exposed them to different chemicals and tested their olfactory response using electroantennography.
The study found that consuming pollen contaminated with the chemicals altered nurse bees' responses to certain pheromones, indicating interference with honey bee communication.
The precise interactions and influences of these chemicals on bees are still unclear, but researchers aim to explore molecular pathways and test other pesticide mixtures.
Their work has the potential to help beekeepers reconsider colony management and protection strategies.
Previously, we talked about animal brains.
