Diesel exhaust rapidly degrades floral odours used by honeybees
Article
Girling, Robbie D., Lusebrink, Inka, Farthing, Emily, Newman, Tracey A. and Poppy, Guy M.. 2013. "Diesel exhaust rapidly degrades floral odours used by honeybees." Scientific Reports. 3 (1). https://doi.org/10.1038/srep02779
Article Title | Diesel exhaust rapidly degrades floral odours used by honeybees |
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ERA Journal ID | 201487 |
Article Category | Article |
Authors | Girling, Robbie D., Lusebrink, Inka, Farthing, Emily, Newman, Tracey A. and Poppy, Guy M. |
Journal Title | Scientific Reports |
Journal Citation | 3 (1) |
Article Number | 2779 |
Number of Pages | 5 |
Year | 2013 |
Publisher | Nature Publishing Group |
Place of Publication | United Kingdom |
ISSN | 2045-2322 |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1038/srep02779 |
Web Address (URL) | https://www.nature.com/articles/srep02779 |
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. |
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020 | 370102. Air pollution processes and air quality measurement |
310301. Behavioural ecology | |
410204. Ecosystem services (incl. pollination) | |
Byline Affiliations | University of Southampton, United Kingdom |
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https://research.usq.edu.au/item/yzv07/diesel-exhaust-rapidly-degrades-floral-odours-used-by-honeybees
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