Diesel exhaust rapidly degrades floral odours used by honeybees
Diesel exhaust rapidly degrades floral odours used by honeybees
Honeybees utilise floral odours when foraging for flowers; we investigated whether diesel exhaust pollution could interrupt these floral odour stimuli. A synthetic blend of eight floral chemicals, identified from oilseed rape, was exposed to diesel exhaust pollution. Within one minute of exposure the abundances of four of the chemicals were significantly lowered, with two components rendered undetectable. Honeybees were trained to recognise the full synthetic odour mix; altering the blend, by removing the two chemicals rendered undetectable, significantly reduced the ability of the trained honeybees to recognize the altered odour. Furthermore, we found that at environmentally relevant levels the mono-nitrogen oxide (NOx) fraction of the exhaust gases was a key facilitator of this odour degradation. Such changes in recognition may impact upon a honeybee's foraging efficiency and therefore the pollination services that they provide
ecosystem services, plant signalling, environmental monitoring atmospheric chemistry
2779
Girling, R.D.
1044dcd8-9b1a-4f9c-bd42-7aa960de5470
Lusebrink, I
419274e9-afab-43ab-8b4f-86a8b2f678da
Farthing, E
ec74d8bb-9942-4867-af11-eef14920c84d
Newman, T.A.
322290cb-2e9c-445d-a047-00b1bea39a25
Poppy, G.M.
e18524cf-10ae-4ab4-b50c-e73e7d841389
3 October 2013
Girling, R.D.
1044dcd8-9b1a-4f9c-bd42-7aa960de5470
Lusebrink, I
419274e9-afab-43ab-8b4f-86a8b2f678da
Farthing, E
ec74d8bb-9942-4867-af11-eef14920c84d
Newman, T.A.
322290cb-2e9c-445d-a047-00b1bea39a25
Poppy, G.M.
e18524cf-10ae-4ab4-b50c-e73e7d841389
Girling, R.D., Lusebrink, I, Farthing, E, Newman, T.A. and Poppy, G.M.
(2013)
Diesel exhaust rapidly degrades floral odours used by honeybees.
Scientific Reports, 3, .
(doi:10.1038/srep02779).
(PMID:24091789)
Abstract
Honeybees utilise floral odours when foraging for flowers; we investigated whether diesel exhaust pollution could interrupt these floral odour stimuli. A synthetic blend of eight floral chemicals, identified from oilseed rape, was exposed to diesel exhaust pollution. Within one minute of exposure the abundances of four of the chemicals were significantly lowered, with two components rendered undetectable. Honeybees were trained to recognise the full synthetic odour mix; altering the blend, by removing the two chemicals rendered undetectable, significantly reduced the ability of the trained honeybees to recognize the altered odour. Furthermore, we found that at environmentally relevant levels the mono-nitrogen oxide (NOx) fraction of the exhaust gases was a key facilitator of this odour degradation. Such changes in recognition may impact upon a honeybee's foraging efficiency and therefore the pollination services that they provide
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srep02779.pdf
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srep02779.pdf
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Submitted date: 26 June 2013
Accepted/In Press date: 28 August 2013
e-pub ahead of print date: 3 October 2013
Published date: 3 October 2013
Keywords:
ecosystem services, plant signalling, environmental monitoring atmospheric chemistry
Organisations:
Clinical & Experimental Sciences
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 358364
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/358364
PURE UUID: 878e5a6f-f497-445d-9857-07ffc772e669
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Date deposited: 10 Oct 2013 12:37
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 02:52
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Author:
R.D. Girling
Author:
I Lusebrink
Author:
E Farthing
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