Pesticides disrupt honeybee nursing behavior and larval development
Tuesday, May 26, 2020 - 09:20
in Biology & Nature
A newly developed video technique has allowed scientists at Goethe University Frankfurt at the Bee Research Institute of the Polytechnical Society to record the complete development of a honeybee in its hive for the first time. It also led to the discovery that certain pesticides—neonicotinoids—changed the behavior of the nurse bees: Researchers determined that they fed the larvae less often. Larval development took up to 10 hours longer. A longer development period in the hive can foster infestation by parasites such as the Varroa mite.