Honeybee behavioral effects

At a more subtle level, behavioral disturbances may make it more difficult for animals to find food. Pyrethroids, carbamates, OPs, and neonicotinoids can disturb the foraging activity of bees (Thompson 2003). Interestingly, effects have been shown upon the wagtail dance of bees, and this disrupts communication between individuals as to the location of nectar-bearing plants. Also, the neonicotinoid imidacloprid has been shown to adversely affect conditioned responses such as proboscis extension of honeybees (Guez et al. 2001). Nicotinoids can disturb the functioning of cholinergic synapses, which are involved in the operation of the proboscis reflex as... 

Le Mdtayer, M., Marion-Poll, F., Sandoz, J. C. el al. (1997). Effect of conditioning on discrimination of oilseed rape volatiles by the honeybee use of a combined gas chromatography-proboscis extension behavioral assay. Chemical Senses 22 ... 

Therefore, Greenleaf Kremen (2006) reported that behavioral interactions between wild and honeybees increase the poUtnation efficiency of honeybees on hybrid sunflower up to 5-fold, effectively doubling honeybee px)llination services on the average field. These indirect contributions caused interspjeofic interactions between wild and honeybees were more than five times more important than the contributions wild bees make to sunflower pollination directly. 

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