Pollinators, honey bees in particular, are continuously exposed to various mixtures of pesticides, which contribute to their population decline. Both amitraz and thiacloprid have been proven less toxic to honey bees and are frequently applied in- and out-hive, respectively. We examined the sub-lethal effects of amitraz, thiacloprid and their sequential exposure on learning, memory and sugar responsiveness in Apis mellifera using the Proboscis extension response (PER). Sub-lethal doses of amitraz (0.1, 0.2 and 0.4 µg/bee) and thiacloprid (0.05, 0.1 and 0.2 µg/bee) were tested. Sub-lethal effects were observed only at the highest doses of each pesticide treatment; amitraz (0.4 µg/bee) and thiacloprid (0.2 µg/bee) but not in lower doses. In sequential treatment of amitraz and thiacloprid, reduced acquisition and memory retention were significant across all tested doses. The same profile was also obtained on sugar responsiveness of foragers. Our results suggest that the sequential exposure would pose higher risk to honey bee compared to single pesticide exposure by reducing the bees’ appetitive olfactory learning, memory and sugar acuity more than individual pesticide exposures.

授粉媒介（尤其是蜜蜂）连续暴露于多种农药混合物中，这导致其种群减少。事实证明，阿米特拉斯和噻虫啉对蜜蜂的毒性均较小，并且经常分别在蜂巢内和蜂巢内使用。我们研究了阿米特拉，噻虫啉及其连续暴露对蜜蜂的学习，记忆和糖反应性的亚致死作用。使用Proboscis延伸反应（PER）。测试了亚致死剂量（0.1、0.2和0.4 µg / bee）和噻虫啉（0.05、0.1和0.2 µg / bee）的亚致死剂量。仅在每种农药处理的最高剂量下才观察到亚致死作用。阿米特拉斯（0.4微克/蜂）和噻虫啉（0.2微克/蜂），但剂量较低时不行。在连续治疗阿米特拉和噻虫啉后，在所有测试剂量下，获得性和记忆力的降低均很显着。在觅食者的糖反应性上也获得了相同的特征。我们的研究结果表明，相继接触比单独接触农药会降低蜜蜂对食性的嗅觉学习，记忆和糖敏度，从而比单独接触农药对蜜蜂构成更高的风险。