Neonicotinoids interfere with specific components of navigation in honeybees.

Three neonicotinoids, imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiacloprid, agonists of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor in the central brain of insects, were applied at non-lethal doses in order to test their effects on honeybee navigation. A catch-and-release experimental design was applied in which fee...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Johannes Fischer, Teresa Müller, Anne-Kathrin Spatz, Uwe Greggers, Bernd Grünewald, Randolf Menzel
Format: article
Language:EN
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2014
Subjects:
R
Q
Online Access:https://doaj.org/article/e4af8edb1c76452c9fbbda37396dc834
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Three neonicotinoids, imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiacloprid, agonists of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor in the central brain of insects, were applied at non-lethal doses in order to test their effects on honeybee navigation. A catch-and-release experimental design was applied in which feeder trained bees were caught when arriving at the feeder, treated with one of the neonicotinoids, and released 1.5 hours later at a remote site. The flight paths of individual bees were tracked with harmonic radar. The initial flight phase controlled by the recently acquired navigation memory (vector memory) was less compromised than the second phase that leads the animal back to the hive (homing flight). The rate of successful return was significantly lower in treated bees, the probability of a correct turn at a salient landscape structure was reduced, and less directed flights during homing flights were performed. Since the homing phase in catch-and-release experiments documents the ability of a foraging honeybee to activate a remote memory acquired during its exploratory orientation flights, we conclude that non-lethal doses of the three neonicotinoids tested either block the retrieval of exploratory navigation memory or alter this form of navigation memory. These findings are discussed in the context of the application of neonicotinoids in plant protection.