Busy – and Stressed – As a Bee

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Stress can make humans more pessimistic and impact their performance at work and in everyday life.

It’s the same for bees, according to a new study.

Scientists at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom discovered that bumblebees can exhibit emotion-like responses to stressful events similar to humans.

In their experiments, they trained bees to determine whether a certain color was associated with a good or bad outcome: For example, one color was associated with a sweet reward location, while another pointed to a location with a low reward.

They then split the insects into three groups, with two experiencing predatory attacks, while the third control group experienced none.

Unsurprisingly, the findings showed that bees that experienced the attacks became too cautious and pessimistic. The team explained the traumatized buzzers were less likely to perceive ambiguous colors with high rewards and played it safe by flying toward locations with low rewards.

“When faced with ambiguity, stressed bees, much like someone seeing the glass as ‘half empty,’ are more likely to expect negative outcomes,” lead author Olga Procenko said in a statement.

Procenko and her team explained that stressed bees can lower their expectations of rewards and thus impact the way they approach pollination.

“Emotions are complex states and in humans involve a subjective understanding of what you are feeling,” added co-author Vivek Nityananda. “We might never know if bees feel something similar, however, what this research can say is that bees have similar responses when they are stressed and make pessimistic choices.”

The study is key to understanding the impact of stress on bees and their pollination process, Earth.com reported.

Bees pollinate around 80 percent of flowering plants, supporting about one-third of our food supply. Figuring out how stress affects their foraging could lead to better management strategies and help lessen environmental impacts on bee populations.

Procenko added that the study “opens up new possibilities for understanding how stress affects insect cognition and behavior, which could provide insights into their responses to environmental challenges and inform conservation efforts.”

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