Antibiotics in hives and their effects on honey bee physiology and behavioral development.

ABSTRACT: Recurrent honeybee losses make it critical to understand the impact of human interventions, such as antibiotic use in apiculture. Antibiotics are used to prevent or treat bacterial infections in colonies. However, little is known about their effects on honeybee development. We studied the effect of two commercial beekeeping antibiotics on the bee physiology and behavior throughout development. Our results show that antibiotic treatments have an effect on amount of lipids and rate of behavioral development. Lipid amount in treated bees was higher than those not treated. Also, the timing of antibiotic treatment had distinct effects for the age of onset of behaviors, starting with cleaning, then nursing and lastly foraging. Bees treated during larva-pupa stages demonstrated an accelerated beh

SUBMITTER: Ortiz-Alvarado Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7710009 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature