The Ethological–Physiological Response of Apis mellifera L. Bees to Carbohydrate Lead Contamination

Abstract

The response of bees to lead contamination of a carbohydrate feed has been studied. It was established that Pb in sucrose solution had a toxic and repelling effect on the bees. It was found that the amount of contaminated feed consumed by the bees decreased with a corresponding increase in the content of Pb in it. It is noted that this element accumulates unevenly in different body parts and parts of the digestive tract of the bees, thereby affecting their metabolic activity and accelerating processes of physiological aging, and the specific reaction of the bees to contaminated feed is expressed in their rejection of its consumption and in inhibition of their locomotion.