While the ecological effects of pesticides have been well studied in honeybees, it is unclear to what extent other anthropogenic contaminants such as air pollution may also negatively affect bee cognition and behaviour. To answer this question, we assessed the impacts of acute exposure to four ecologically relevant concentrations of a common urban air pollutant-diesel generated air pollution on honeybee odour learning and memory using a conditioned proboscis extension response assay. The proportion of bees that successfully learnt odours following direct air pollution exposure was significantly lower in bees exposed to low, medium and high air pollutant concentrations, than in bees exposed to current ambient levels. Furthermore, short- and long-term odour memory was significantly impaired in bees exposed to low medium and high air pollutant concentrations than in bees exposed to current ambient levels. These results demonstrate a clear and direct cognitive cost of air pollution. Given learning and memory play significant roles in foraging, we suggest air pollution will have increasing negative impacts on the ecosystem services bees provide and may add to the current threats such as pesticides, mites and disease affecting colony fitness.

中文翻译：

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急性暴露于城市空气污染会削弱蜜蜂的嗅觉学习和记忆能力。

尽管在蜜蜂中已经对农药的生态效应进行了充分的研究，但尚不清楚其他人为污染（例如空气污染）在多大程度上也可能对蜜蜂的认知和行为产生负面影响。为了回答这个问题，我们使用条件性长鼻延伸反应分析法，评估了急性暴露于四种生态相关浓度的普通城市空气污染物-柴油产生的空气污染对蜜蜂气味学习和记忆的影响。在暴露于低，中和高空气污染物浓度的蜜蜂中，直接暴露于空气污染后成功学习气味的蜜蜂比例明显低于暴露于当前环境水平的蜜蜂。此外，与暴露于当前环境水平的蜜蜂相比，暴露于低中度和高空气污染物浓度的蜜蜂的短期和长期气味记忆显着受损。这些结果证明了空气污染的直接明确的认知成本。鉴于学习和记忆在觅食中起着重要作用，我们建议空气污染将对蜜蜂提供的生态系统服务产生越来越大的负面影响，并可能加剧当前的威胁，例如农药，螨虫和影响菌落适应性的疾病。