There is ample evidence that CO2 can cause serious colony disruption.
Field tests would be required to ascertain the real world implications


Ribbands (1950) found that the exposure of worker honey bees to CO2 for 2
min caused them to change from hive to field activities at an earlier age
than control bees. This treatment also caused an elimination or a marked
reduction of pollen collecting behavior and a reduction of life expectancy.


Furthermore, CO2 treatment of recently emerged bees eliminated all or most
of subsequent brood rearing and wax secreting activities. Simpson (1954)
found significant reduction of pollen gathering when pollen foraging bees
were treated with CO2 for 10 min. He also indicated that CO2 treatment
accelerates the retrogression of pharyngeal glands of young bees.


Effects of Carbon Dioxide and Low Temperature Narcosis on Honey Bees, Apis
mellifera 
RAHIM EBADI, NORMAN E. GARY, AND KENNETH LORENZEN Dept. of Entomology,
Univ. of Calif., Davis 95616


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A single brief anesthesia by CO2 may have strong ethological
repercussions. One exposure to CO2 causes worker honey bees, Apis
mellijera, to change from hive to field activities at an earlier age,
leads to a marked reduction of pollen gathering (123), modifies hoarding
behavior (88), and affects the age-dependent temperature preference (56);
some of these effects are observed after only a short anesthesia (30 sec)
with pure CO2 (33)


Laboratory experiments have been carried out to define the role of CO2 and
breath odors on the activity of hematophagous insects. A quantitative
relation­ ship has been demonstrated between the number of flights and CO2
con­ centrations up to 1% for Muscidae (159) or 5% for Glossinidae


The correspondence between field and laboratory results is not perfect.
For example, the kinetic effect of low CO2 concentration that
characterizes the laboratory behavior of some flies has not been
convincingly demonstrated in the field


IMMEDIATE AND LATENT EFFECTS OF CARBON DIOXIDE ON INSECTS
Gerard Nicolas Laboratoire de Biologie de l'lnsecte, Universite Paris-Sud,
Orsay Cedex, France


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CO2 narcosis is known to change the reproductive status of queen and
worker honey bees in opposite directions. It also alters the foraging
preferences of workers away from pollen, and causes early onset of
foraging. Here we have shown that the expression of genes related to
foraging and reproductive behaviour change in response to narcosis. Thus
our results provide further support for the hypothesis that reproductive
and foraging traits are causally related in the honey bee, and may be
regulated by the same gene network(s).


Expression of genes related to reproduction and pollen foraging in honey
bees (Apis mellifera) narcotized with carbon dioxide
R. M. Brito, M. McHale and B. P. Oldroyd
Insect Molecular Biology (2010) 19(4), 451­461
R. M. Brito, M. McHale and B. P. Oldroyd



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