Methyl parathion modifies foraging behaviour in honeybees (Apis mellifera)

David Guez*, Shao Wu Zhang, Mandyam V. Srinivasan

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    15 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    We examined the effects of sublethal doses of an organophosphorus insecticide, Methyl Parathion (MeP), on the foraging behaviour of honeybees (Apis mellifera ligustica) in a flight cage. The results revealed that MeP modified the frequency of visits to a feeding station to which the bees had previously been trained. A dose of 50 ng per animal elicited an increase in the frequency of visits to the feeder, compared to control animals. A dose of 10 ng, on the other hand, led initially to a decrease in the visit frequency, followed by an increase to a level above that of the controls. A hypothesis is presented to account for the way in which MeP affects foraging behaviour. We propose that the behavioural assay presented here could be useful as a preliminary screening test to study sublethal effects of pesticides on foraging performance in honeybees.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)431-437
    Number of pages7
    JournalEcotoxicology
    Volume14
    Issue number4
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - May 2005

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