Sick bees lose their buzz
2008-07-16 16:37
London - Bumblebees lose a bit of their
buzz when ill, and like humans, have a tougher time doing daily
tasks until they recover, British researchers said on Wednesday.
Honeybees with activated immune systems also have memory
problems, according to evolutionary biologist Eamonn Mallon of
the University of Leicester, who said his findings can boost
efforts to save dwindling bee colonies.
"This is an animal that lives on its memory," he said. "If
even a minor infection hurts its memory that is a major cost."
Like humans, bees can get sick and recover in days from
infections after the immune system kicks into action to fight
off viruses or parasites, Mallon said.
The team reported its
findings in the Royal Society's journal, Biology Letters.
The researchers divided bees into two groups and injected
half with a substance that stimulated the immune system.
Three native species lost
They
then offered the bees the choice of blue and yellow flowers but
only one colour contained sugar water.
Eventually all the bees spent their time feeding from the
correct flower but it took the stimulated bees 10% longer
to reach this point, showing that an active immune response when
ill affects memory, the researchers said.
Britain once had more than 25 native species of bumblebee,
but three of those have been lost in the past 50 years and
several are under threat.
Scientists say disease and farming
methods that have deprived bumblebees of many traditional
flowering plant food sources help explain the decline.
"This means we maybe have to take into account that disease
is more important than we thought originally," he said in a
telephone interview.
"There is concern about both the decline in
wild bumblebee species and the effects of disease on the
honeybee industry.