Honey bees are resilient to the long-term presence of alcohol in their diet.

Previous studies on various organisms have suggested that low doses of ethanol can have stimulatory effects, while higher doses may lead to toxicity, a response known as hormesis. Low ethanol concentrations occur naturally in the environment, particularly in fermenting fruits and flower nectar, where pollinators such as honey bees may encounter it. This study aimed to investigate the potential hormetic effects of low-level ethanol consumption on honey bees.

Meta-Analysis and Experimental Evidence Reveal No Impact of Nosema ceranae Infection on Honeybee Carbohydrate Consumption.

Honeybees (Apis mellifera) are indispensable pollinators for ecosystem stability and agricultural productivity. However, they face numerous challenges, including pathogens threatening their survival and ecosystem services. Among these pathogens, Nosema ceranae, a microsporidian parasite, causes significant damage to the intestinal tract and induces energetic imbalances in the organism, posing a major threat to both individual bees and entire colonies.

Nosemosis negatively affects honeybee survival: experimental and meta-analytic evidence.

Nosemosis, caused by microsporidian parasites of the genus , is considered a significant health concern for insect pollinators, including the economically important honeybee (). Despite its acknowledged importance, the impact of this disease on honeybee survivorship remains unclear. Here, a standard laboratory cage trial was used to compare mortality rates between healthy and -infected honeybees.

Occasional and constant exposure to dietary ethanol shortens the lifespan of worker honey bees.

Honey bees (Apis mellifera) are one of the most crucial pollinators, providing vital ecosystem services. Their development and functioning depend on essential nutrients and substances found in the environment. While collecting nectar as a vital carbohydrate source, bees routinely encounter low doses of ethanol from yeast fermentation.

Discontinued alcohol consumption elicits withdrawal symptoms in honeybees.

The honeybee continues to be developed as a model species in many research areas, including studies related to the effects of alcohol. Here, we investigate whether workers display one of the key features of alcoholism, namely withdrawal symptoms. We show that workers fed for a prolonged time on food spiked with ethanol, after discontinuation of access to such food, exhibited a marked increase in the consumption of ethanol and a slight increase in mortality.

Rebel honeybee workers have a tendency to become intraspecific reproductive parasites.

Worker honeybees may reproduce in either their own or foreign colonies; the latter situation is termed intraspecific reproductive parasitism (IRP). In this study, we compared the tendency for IRP between normal honeybee workers, which are characterized by a relatively low reproductive potential, and "rebel workers", a recently discovered subcaste of honeybee workers characterized by a high reproductive potential that develops when the colony is without a queen. We expected that the high reproductive potential of the rebel workers would influence their reproductive strategy and that these individuals would drift to other colonies to lay eggs more often than normal workers.