[DTE]
HONEYBEES play a crucial role in pollination, which lies at the crux
of fruit formation and seed setting in plants. Unfortunately,
anthropogenic activities are increasingly threatening their survival.
Tracey Newman and her colleagues from the Institute for Life Sciences,
University of Southampton, UK, have reported that diesel exhausts
interfere with the floral odours that help bees locate flowers for
sipping nectar. The scientists created a synthetic odour inspired by
the natural floral odour emitted from rapeseed plant for the test. This
consisted of eight chemicals from the natural odour that elicited the
strongest response from bees. The odour was released into two
vessels—one that contained clean air and second that contained air mixed
with diesel exhaust. One minute of exposure to diesel exhaust lowered
four of the chemicals, with two components, α-farnesene and α-terpinene,
becoming undetectable. To train honeybees to become familiar with the
synthetic floral odour blend, the scientists made use of their ability
to extends its proboscis when it comes into contact with food. Bees that
were trained to respond to the synthetic mixture failed to respond when
they were exposed to a mixture that lacked α-farnesene and α-terpinene.
It was also noticed that of all the chemicals in the diesel exhaust,
oxides of nitrogen (NOx) appeared to be the most damaging to floral
scents.
“The public needs to be made aware of the impact of such pollutants.
It is also necessary to look at such studies in the right perspective
and make sure that focus is not lost from other problems that the
beekeeping industry in India is facing. Adoption of scientific methods
of bee-keeping, development of better strains and keeping diseases in
check are some of the areas bee-keepers need to concentrate on,” says
Pardeep Chhuneja, entomologist at Punjab Agricultural University,
Ludhiana.
Axel Brockmann from National Centre for Biological Sciences,
Bengaluru, says, “The paper is important when it comes to lawsuits, in
case a state or a country decides to decrease pollution thresholds and
car or transportation companies oppose that.”
The paper was published in the October issue of Scientific Reports.
