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Honeybee foraging © Yves Le Conte

News

20 Sep 2018

Pesticide mixtures slow down bees' foraging activity

Agroecology

INRA researchers and their partners have identified a new sublethal effect of pesticide mixtures on bees, characterized by perturbations of their energy metabolism and a decline in performance. Their research was recently published in Science of the Total Environment.

Honeybee's foraging activity. © INRA, Yves Le Conte

News

23 Feb 2018

Stress decreases pollen foraging performance in honeybees

Animal biology

Stressed honeybees have lower pollen foraging performance. The resulting deficit in pollen could have consequences on the colony's nutritional balance and development.

Honeybee on a peach blossom. © INRA, Nicolas Morison

Press release

10 Feb 2017

Winter colony survival: flowering catch crops and natural wooded habitats improve honeybee health

Agroecology

A study that brought together INRA, ACTA and ITSAP-Institute de l’abeille investigated the physiological mechanisms involved in overwintering survival in honeybees. Researchers demonstrated that vitellogenin, a protein with antioxidant properties, is associated with a 30% increase in the probability of overwintering survival.

Bee undergoing artificial insemination. © INRA, Guillaume Kairo

Press release

06 Sep 2016

Bee declines: male exposure to pesticides indirectly affects queen reproductive capacity

Animal biology

Recent INRA research published in Scientific Reports shows that exposing male bees to fipronil, a pesticide, affects sperm quantity, mortality, and metabolism. It also revealed that virgin queens inseminated with semen from these males had 30% fewer live sperm available for fertilizing their eggs. These reproductive repercussions could be contributing to bee declines, which have been observed in bee colonies across the world over the last few decades.

Introduction of a queen cage in a nucleus. © INRA, Claudia DUSSAUBAT

Press release

31 Aug 2016

Bee declines: the combination of pesticides and parasites is also affecting the survival of queens

Animal biology

INRA scientists have now shown that chronic and indirect exposure to a very low dose of a neonicotinoid pesticide, and infection by a common bee parasite, can have a very important effect on the survival of queens under natural conditions, and modifies their physiology. The interaction between imidaclopride and Nosema ceranae is even more harmful to the queens than each stress taken separately. These findings are published on 31 August 2016 in Scientific Reports.

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