Honeybee population in free fall; Pennsylvania among worst hit in nation

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21. Groundbreaking study shows that (Monsanto) Roundup causes honeybees to starve

These are among the many shock findings of a recent study published in The Journal of Experimental Biology, which for the first time demonstrates both chronic and acute effects in honeybees exposed to Roundup at real-life levels.

A combined laboratory and field analysis conducted by researchers from the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina found that Roundup exhibits harm at sub-lethal levels, meaning levels that don't necessarily kill bees but that still affect them. Using the Apis mellifera type of honeybee, which is a primary pollinator in most agricultural environments, the team looked at how bees respond to trace levels of Roundup that match what they might find in a real-world foraging situation.

Based on these field-realistic doses, exposed bees were found to have reduced sucrose sensitivity, or a lowered ability to identify and track food. Exposed bees also experienced a drop in learning performance, as well as increased difficulties smelling food and other substances. And in terms of memory retention, exposed bees fared much worse than non-exposed bees, hence the tendency of bees in a colony collapse disorder (CCD) situation not being able to find their way back to the hive.

"We found a reduced sensitivity to sucrose and learning performance for the groups chronically exposed to GLY [glyphosate] concentrations within the range of recommended doses," wrote the authors.

"Altogether, these results imply that GLY at concentrations found in agro-ecosystems due to standard spraying can reduce sensitivity to nectar reward and impair associative learning in honeybees."

Honeybees bring Roundup back to the hive, poisoning all the other bees
Indirect exposure to Roundup was also observed during the analysis, as bees were found to bring tainted nectar back to the hive, poisoning all the other bees in the process. While foraging behavior was not observed to be directly affected by bees' exposure to Roundup, the distribution of Roundup via nectar did have a cumulative effect on the entire hive's ability to function, which includes foraging.

"[W]e speculate that successful forager bees could become a source of constant inflow of nectar with GLY traces that could then be distributed among nest mates, stored in the hive and have long-term negative consequences on colony performance," concluded researchers.

http://www.naturalnews.com/046769_Roundup_honeybees_colony_collapse_disorder.html

http://jeb.biologists.org/content/early/2014/07/23/jeb.109520.full.pdf

The Journal of Experimental Biology – ACCEPTED AUTHOR MANUSCRIPT
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Discussion
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We set out to evaluate the effects of chronic and acute exposures to field-
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realistic doses of glyphosate (GLY), the main herbicide currently used for
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weed control in agriculture, on the behaviour of the honeybee
Apis mellifera
.
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Our results show that both chronic and acute exposure to GLY traces produce
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sensory sensitivity and c
ognitive deficits on adult honeybees of the worker
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caste. The concentrations used (within a 0 to 3.7 mg e.a./L range) were based
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on concentrations recommended for spraying and on those measured in
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natural environments, from 1.4 to 7.6 mg e.a./L (Goldsborough and Brown,
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1988; Feng et al., 1990; Giesy et al., 2000), and were shown to be sub-lethal
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for honeybees. Young adult bees chronically exposed to concentrations of
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2.5 and 5.0 mg/L of GLY showed reduced sensitivity to sucrose (reward) and
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impaired acquisition dynamics during elemental associative olfactory
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learning. This impairment cannot be explained by deterioration of the general
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state or motor skills of the subjects, since measurements such as survival,
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food uptake and locomotive activity did not differ between experimental
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groups. Furthermore, acute exposure to GLY significantly decreased short-
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term memory retention and negatively affected non-elemental associative
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learning at foraging ages. Nevertheless, an acute exposure to GLY in a
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foraging context did not have a detrimental effect on foraging activity and
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dancing behaviour. Altogether, these results imply that GLY at
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concentrations that can be found in nature as a result of standard spraying
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reduce sensitivity to nectar reward and also impair associative learning in
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honeybees. Since no effect on foraging activity was found, successful forager
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The Journal of Experimental Biology – ACCEPTED AUTHOR MANUSCRIPT
bees can become a source of inflow of nectar with GLY traces into the hive,
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which in turn could have long-term negative consequences on colony
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survival