Increased aggression and reduced aversive learning in honey bees exposed to extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields

Autor: Victoria C. Godley, Suleiman M. Sharkh, C. W. Jackson, Sebastian Shepherd, Georgina Hollands, Philip L. Newland
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2019
Předmět:
0106 biological sciences
Social Sciences
Audiology
01 natural sciences
Honey Bees
Learning and Memory
Pollinator
Abdomen
Medicine and Health Sciences
Psychology
0303 health sciences
Multidisciplinary
Physics
Eukaryota
Sham control
Bees
Pollution
Aggression
Insects
Physical Sciences
Medicine
Anatomy
medicine.symptom
Research Article
medicine.medical_specialty
Arthropoda
Science
Biology
03 medical and health sciences
Electromagnetic Fields
Electromagnetism
medicine
Animals
Learning
030304 developmental biology
Behavior
Extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields
Ecology and Environmental Sciences
Critical factors
Organisms
Cognitive Psychology
Conditioned response
Biology and Life Sciences
Invertebrates
Hymenoptera
010602 entomology
Cognitive Science
Conditioned Response
Entomology
Neuroscience
Zdroj: PLoS ONE, Vol 14, Iss 10, p e0223614 (2019)
Purdue University Libraries Open Access Publishing Support Fund
PLoS ONE
ISSN: 1932-6203
Popis: s Metrics Comments Media Coverage Abstract Introduction Materials and methods Results Discussion Supporting information References Reader Comments (0) Media Coverage (1) Figures Abstract Honey bees, Apis mellifera, are a globally significant pollinator species and are currently in decline, with losses attributed to an array of interacting environmental stressors. Extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF EMFs) are a lesser-known abiotic environmental factor that are emitted from a variety of anthropogenic sources, including power lines, and have recently been shown to have a significant impact on the cognitive abilities and behaviour of honey bees. Here we have investigated the effects of field-realistic levels of ELF EMFs on aversive learning and aggression levels, which are critical factors for bees to maintain colony strength. Bees were exposed for 17 h to 100 μT or 1000 μT ELF EMFs, or a sham control. A sting extension response (SER) assay was conducted to determine the effects of ELF EMFs on aversive learning, while an intruder assay was conducted to determine the effects of ELF EMFs on aggression levels. Exposure to both 100 μT and 1000 μT ELF EMF reduced aversive learning performance by over 20%. Exposure to 100 μT ELF EMFs also increased aggression scores by 60%, in response to intruder bees from foreign hives. These results indicate that short-term exposure to ELF EMFs, at levels that could be encountered in bee hives placed under power lines, reduced aversive learning and increased aggression levels. These behavioural changes could have wider ecological implications in terms of the ability of bees to interact with, and respond appropriately to, threats and negative environmental stimuli.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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