Mobile phone-induced honeybee worker piping
Daniel FAVRE. Apidologie
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
Received 24 June 2009 – Revised 29 March 2010 – Accepted 8 April 2010
Online First™, 13 April 2011
Abstract – The worldwide maintenance of the honeybee has major ecological, economic, and political
implications. In the present study, electromagnetic waves originating from mobile phones were tested for
potential effects on honeybee behavior. Mobile phone handsets were placed in the close vicinity of honeybees.
The sound made by the bees was recorded and analyzed. The audiograms and spectrograms revealed that active
mobile phone handsets have a dramatic impact on the behavior of the bees, namely by inducing the worker
piping signal. In natural conditions, worker piping either announces the swarming process of the bee colony or
is a signal of a disturbed bee colony.
Aside from the content of the article notice: it took 2 years to find its way to print...
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