A male Xylocopa virginica (Eastern Carpenter bee) on Redbud (Cercis canadensis).
Bees can suffer serious effects from toxic chemicals in their environments. These include various synthetic chemicals,[1] particularly insecticides, as well as a variety of naturally occurring chemicals from plants, such as ethanol resulting from the fermentation of organic materials. Bee intoxication can result from exposure to ethanol from fermented nectar, ripe fruits, and manmade and natural chemicals in the environment.[2][3]
The effects of alcohol on bees are sufficiently similar to the effects of alcohol on humans that honey bees have been used as models of human ethanol intoxication.[4] The metabolism of bees and humans is sufficiently different that bees can safely collect nectars from plants that contain compounds toxic to humans. The honey produced by bees from these toxic nectars can be poisonous if consumed by humans.
Natural processes can also introduce toxic substances into nontoxic honey produced from nontoxic nectar. Microorganisms in honey can convert some of the sugars in honey to ethanol. This process of ethanol fermentation is intentionally harnessed to produce the alcoholic beverage called mead from fermented honey.
^Tosi, Simone; Costa, Cecilia; Vesco, Umberto; Quaglia, Giancarlo; Guido, Giovanni (2018). "A survey of honey bee-collected pollen reveals widespread contamination by agricultural pesticides". Science of the Total Environment. 615: 208–218. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.09.226. PMID 28968582. S2CID 19956612.
^Of course, other creatures are not immune to the effects of alcohol:
Many of us have noticed that bees or yellow jackets cannot fly well after having drunk the juice of overripe fruits or berries; bears have been seen to stagger and fall down after eating fermented honey; and birds often crash or fly haphazardly while intoxicated on ethanol that occurs naturally as free-floating microorganisms convert vegetable carbohydrates to [alcohol] (Warren K. Bickel; Richard J. DeGrandpre (1996). Drug Policy and Human Nature: Psychological Perspectives On The Prevention, Management, and Treatment of Illicit Drug Abuse. Springer. ISBN 978-0-306-45241-3.)
^Fruit flies and other insects also exhibit symptoms of ethanol intoxication (Heberlein, Ulrike; Wolf, Fred W.; Rothenfluh, Adrian; Guarnieri, Douglas J. (2004). "Molecular Genetic Analysis of Ethanol Intoxication in Drosophila melanogaster". Integrative and Comparative Biology. 44 (4): 269–274. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.536.262. doi:10.1093/icb/44.4.269. PMID 21676709. S2CID 14762870.)
^Latest Buzz in Research: Intoxicated Honey bees may clue Scientists into Drunken Human Behavior, The Ohio State Research News, Research Communications, Columbus OH, October 23, 2004. Archived September 1, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
and 30 Related for: Bees and toxic chemicals information
Bees can suffer serious effects from toxicchemicals in their environments. These include various synthetic chemicals, particularly insecticides, as well...
the larvae of many different species of moths. Moths, like butterflies, beesand other more popularly recognized pollinating insects, serve an essential...
recognized. Honey bees represent only a small fraction of the roughly 20,000 known species of bees. The best known honey bee is the western honey bee, (Apis mellifera)...
(clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam) for all outdoor uses. Beesandtoxicchemicals Pesticide misuse Pesticide toxicity to bees Pollinator decline CID...
fleas are attached (or appear to be attached) to miniature carts and other items, and encouraged to perform circus acts within a small housing. The first...
dysfunction and increase sexual performance. Most cases of mad honey poisoning are experienced by middle-aged men. Beesandtoxicchemicals Mayor, Adrienne...
and honey removal Beekeeping – bees are kept for their products (principally honey), and their utility in pollinating crops Beesandtoxicchemicals Brood...
of alternative medicine that uses honey bee products, including honey, pollen, propolis, royal jelly andbee venom. There has been no scientific or clinical...
belonging to a class of chemicals called the neonicotinoids which act on the central nervous system of insects. The chemical works by interfering with...
similar to nicotine.(with much lower acute mammalian toxicityand greater field persistence). These chemicals are acetylcholine receptor agonists. They are broad-spectrum...
Toxicity is the degree to which a chemical substance or a particular mixture of substances can damage an organism. Toxicity can refer to the effect on...
most species (>90%) – including mason bees, carpenter bees, leafcutter bees, and sweat bees – are solitary. Bees are found on every continent except Antarctica...
Fipronil is toxic to beesand should not be applied to vegetation when bees are foraging. Based on ecological effects, fipronil is highly toxic to upland...
present in the honey bee after 72 hours. This might be a toxicological risk for honey bees, as chronic exposure can increase the toxicity of certain compounds...
its abdomen and digestive tract, plus muscles and nerves. This massive abdominal rupture kills the honey bee. Honey bees are the only bees to die after...
birds, highly toxic to midges and acutely toxic for bees.: 20 The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) classification...
Bees In bees, the lethal concentration (LC50) of bifenthrin is about 17 mg/L. At sublethal concentrations, bifenthrin reduces the fecundity of bees,...
produced by honey bees of the genus Apis. The wax is formed into scales by eight wax-producing glands in the abdominal segments of worker bees, which discard...
cover and configuration, land management and pesticides, as these were considered very important drivers in most regions". Beesandtoxicchemicals, Pesticide...
and viscous substance made by several species of bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees...
protein for the hive. Bees other than Apis typically form pollen into balls; these are primarily ground-nesting bees or twig-nesting bees, most of which are...
labeled "low-toxicity" chemicalsand are ubiquitous in home-care products. Pyrethrins are widely regarded as better for the environment, and can be harmless...
less. Since many small bees are categorized into a pain level of 1, most toxic polypeptides in bee venom are melittin, apamin, and MCD peptide. Melittin...
and asthma. Pyrethrum, specifically the pyrethrin within, is highly toxic to insects including useful pollinators like bees. The risk of killing bees...
Selective toxicity, controlled application, and controlled biodegradation are major challenges in herbicide and pesticide development and in chemical engineering...
Global Information