New paper in Ecotoxicology!

We're happy to share the publication of our new study, "Honey bees are resilient to the long-term presence of alcohol in their diet", now available in Ecotoxicology!

Do you think that bees can get "tipsy"? In nature, alcohol (ethanol) is surprisingly common. It can form naturally in ripe fruits and flower nectar due to yeast fermentation. This means that foraging bees may regularly encounter small amounts of alcohol in their diet.

In our research, we explored how honey bees handle this exposure. Is it harmful to them, or could a little bit of alcohol even help them? After all, low doses of stressors might trigger beneficial biological responses, a phenomenon known as hormesis. To find out, we raised bees on three different diets for two weeks: some received a regular sugar water, others had the option to self-dose with a low 0.5% ethanol solution, and a third group had to eat only a 1% ethanol solution. We measured a range of indicators: survival, flight performance, body weight, fat reserves, and key blood sugar levels.

Photo: Daniel Bajorek. Honey bee worker after a flight mill test.

Honey bees proved remarkably resilient. Even constant ethanol exposure had no negative effect on survival, flight ability, or body condition. Bees that were constantly exposed to 1% ethanol did show slightly higher levels of trehalose, a sugar that plays a protective role under stress. This might signal a subtle physiological adaptation that helps bees cope with alcohol in their environment.

While we didn’t find strong evidence for hormetic benefits, we also didn’t observe any harm. This adds to our understanding of pollinator ecology and the evolutionary adaptations of honey bees to naturally occurring substances like alcohol.

If you’re curious about the full details, check out our publication here, and stay tuned for more updates as we continue to explore the subject!