Honeybees utilise floral odours when foraging for flowers; we investigated whether diesel exhaust pollution could interrupt these floral odour stimuli.
Honeybees utilise floral odours when foraging for flowers; we investigated whether diesel exhaust pollution could interrupt these floral odour stimuli. A synthetic blend of eight floral chemicals, identified from oilseed rape, was exposed to diesel exhaust pollution. Within one minute of exposure the abundances of four of the chemicals were significantly lowered, with two components rendered undetectable. Honeybees were trained to recognise the full synthetic odour mix; altering the blend, by removing the two chemicals rendered undetectable, significantly reduced the ability of the trained honeybees to recognize the altered odour. Furthermore, we found that at environmentally relevant levels the mono-nitrogen oxide (NOx) fraction of the exhaust gases was a key facilitator of this odour degradation. Such changes in recognition may impact upon a honeybee's foraging efficiency and therefore the pollination services that they provide.
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L'étude : Diesel exhaust rapidly degrades floral odours used by honeybees
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Un article en français du 7/10/2013 :
→ L'odorat des abeilles mis en danger par le diesel
Futura-Sciences. « L’odorat des abeilles est mis à rude épreuve. Les gaz d’échappement issus du diesel modifient le profil d’odeur d’une plante, principal outil de reconnaissance pour une butineuse. En présence de trop fortes quantités de ces gaz, l’insecte pourrait devenir incapable de discerner des autres la fleur à butiner. »
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SUR ENTOMONEWS - From passeurdesciences.blog.lemonde.fr - September 16, 5:40 PM :
→ La pollution à l’ozone éteint le parfum des fleurs