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Thread: Pesticide combination affects bees' ability to learn - comments anyone?

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    Administrator gavin's Avatar
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    Default Pesticide combination affects bees' ability to learn - comments anyone?

    Picked up by the Beeb here:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21958547

    And here is the official Press Release from the hosting university (I'll avoid bolding and italicising lest you think I've turned into Borderbeeman):



    • Two pesticides target same learning centre of bee brain
    • Research shows combined pesticides impact on bee brain function
    • Bees become slower to learn and forget floral scents


    Two new studies have highlighted a negative impact on bees' ability to learn following exposure to a combination of pesticides commonly used in agriculture. The researchers found that the pesticides, used in the research at levels shown to occur in the wild, could interfere with the learning circuits in the bee's brain. They also found that bees exposed to combined pesticides were slower to learn or completely forgot important associations between floral scent and food rewards.


    In the study published today (27th March 2013) in Nature Communications, the University of Dundee's Dr Christopher Connolly and his team investigated the impact on bees' brains of two common pesticides: pesticides used on crops called neonicotinoid pesticides, and another type of pesticide, coumaphos, that is used in honeybee hives to kill the Varroa mite, a parasitic mite that attacks the honey bee.


    The intact bees' brains were exposed to pesticides in the lab at levels predicted to occur following exposure in the wild and brain activity was recorded. They found that both types of pesticide target the same area of the bee brain involved in learning, causing a loss of function. If both pesticides were used in combination, the effect was greater.


    The study is the first to show that these pesticides have a direct impact on pollinator brain physiology. It was prompted by the work of collaborators Dr Geraldine Wright and Dr Sally Williamson at Newcastle University who found that combinations of these same pesticides affected learning and memory in bees. Their studies established that when bees had been exposed to combinations of these pesticides for 4 days, as many as 30% of honeybees failed to learn or performed poorly in memory tests. Again, the experiments mimicked levels that could be seen in the wild, this time by feeding a sugar solution mixed with appropriate levels of pesticides.


    Dr Geraldine Wright said: "Pollinators perform sophisticated behaviours while foraging that require them to learn and remember floral traits associated with food. Disruption in this important function has profound implications for honeybee colony survival, because bees that cannot learn will not be able to find food."


    Together the researchers expressed concerns about the use of pesticides that target the same area of the brain of insects and the potential risk of toxicity to non-target insects. Moreover, they said that exposure to different combinations of pesticides that act at this site may increase this risk.

    Dr Christopher Connolly said: "Much discussion of the risks posed by the neonicotinoid insecticides has raised important questions of their suitability for use in our environment. However, little consideration has been given to the miticidal pesticides introduced directly into honeybee hives to protect the bees from the Varroa mite. We find that both have negative impact on honeybee brain function."


    "Together, these studies highlight potential dangers to pollinators of continued exposure to pesticides that target the insect nervous system and the importance of identifying combinations of pesticides that could profoundly impact pollinator survival."


    This research is part of the Insect Pollinators Initiative, joint-funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Defra, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the Scottish Government and the Wellcome Trust under the auspices of the Living with Environmental Change (LWEC) partnership.


    Contact

    [the BBSRC Head of News guy]

    Notes to editor

    'Cholinergic pesticides cause mushroom body neuronal inactivation in honeybees'. Nature Communications. From 1600 27 March at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms2648.

    'Exposure to multiple cholinergic pesticides impairs olfactory learning and memory in honeybees.' J Exp Biol Advance Online Articles. 7 February 2013 as doi:10.1242/jeb.083931Access the most recent version at http://jeb.biologists.org/lookup/doi/10.1242/jeb.083931


    For media enquiries contact:
    [some poor bloke in the University Press Office]

  2. #2
    Senior Member Jon's Avatar
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    Would any pesticide not have an effect on a bee brain, carbamate, organophosphate, pyretheroid, whatever.
    Is this exclusive to neonicotinoids? I would not have thought so.

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    Not seen Coumaphos mentioned in the past. Does it have a brand name?

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    Administrator gavin's Avatar
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    Checkmite.

    The lead researcher put coumaphos into his grant proposal as he'd heard tales of some beekeepers using sheep dip (a practice which I hope has now stopped) but the truth was that it was a pyrethroid sheep dip rather than the organophosphate one based on coumaphos. They were just saving the pennies by buying the same active ingredient as used in a bee-targetted preparation in a different way. So the work would have been irrelevant for the UK, only now as luck would have it some beekeepers (just commercial guys as far as I am aware) *are* using coumaphos (here and there). It is available legally through the Cascade system which allows it to be prescribed by a vet or an 'SQP' in the UK, and it is also available through unofficial routes. Never touch the stuff myself, it is an organophosphate being applied into the boxes of a food-producing organism for goodness sake!
    Last edited by gavin; 27-03-2013 at 10:23 PM.

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    Senior Member Jon's Avatar
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    I have not heard of anyone using it locally.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Black Comb View Post
    Not seen Coumaphos mentioned in the past. Does it have a brand name?
    From memory, coumaphos is an organophosphate poison used in varroa control. It was used in the USA and I think in Germany, it was not legal to use in Ireland. I seem to remember reading that it was related to the chemicals in Agent Orange, used as a defoliant in Vietnam. The trade name was "Pirizen".

    Apologies just seen the above comprehensive reply from Gavin.
    Last edited by Dark Bee; 27-03-2013 at 10:32 PM.

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    Administrator gavin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jon View Post
    Would any pesticide not have an effect on a bee brain, carbamate, organophosphate, pyretheroid, whatever.
    Is this exclusive to neonicotinoids? I would not have thought so.
    The focus on neonics is bizarre. However it wouldn't surprise me if, before long, we are not being told that all our miticide treatments are killing our bees too rather than saving them from the real bee health issue. All the newspapers say that the bees are dying, so it must be true.

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    Administrator gavin's Avatar
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    Quite right Dark Bee, Perizen is the trade name on the continent, Checkmite is the US version.

    (but Agent Orange is a herbicide)

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    Senior Member Jon's Avatar
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    DB
    I think we have some differences in what's legal and what's not between the two jurisdictions north and south because of that wiggly line drawn across the island some time ago.

  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by gavin View Post
    Quite right Dark Bee, Perizen is the trade name on the continent, Checkmite is the US version.

    (but Agent Orange is a herbicide)
    I think it was the gentleman with the fogger, mentioned in another thread, who spoke about it. My own recollection is a trifle foggy now and I cannot recall what the alleged relation to agent orange was !! However I have just discovered that Dave Cushman has a section of his site devoted to coumaphos.

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