Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck
Scientists have proposed a variety of possible explanations for the recent and worrisome decline in bee populations in recent years, but a new study suggests that the pollinating insects could be dying off due to what has long been considered a primarily human problem: dementia.
Writing in a recent edition of the journal PLOS One, researchers from Keele University and the University of Sussex explained that they had discovered bee pupae contaminated with aluminum, and that the toxin may cause them to experience debilitating cognitive issues.
According to CNN.com, aluminum is considered a neurotoxin, and at one point, the substance had been linked to Alzheimer’s disease in humans. It can also be found in nectar, and bees don’t really try to avoid it. Since bees have relatively complex brains, and there has been evidence to suggest that they possess memory, but high levels of aluminum could be adversely affecting their cognitive function and contributing to their demise.
High levels of aluminum contamination found in pupae
To investigate the possible link, Professor Chris Exley of Keele University and Professor Dave Goulson of the University of Sussex collected pupae from naturally-foraging bumblebee colonies and analyzed them to determine their aluminum content, according to a statement.
The bees were found to have aluminum contamination levels ranging from 13 to nearly 200 ppm, with significantly higher levels found in the smaller pupae. To put that into context, aluminum levels of just 3 ppm would be sufficient to cause harm in human brain tissue. While the findings are only preliminary, they reveal significant accumulation of this toxin in at least one stage of the bees’ life cycle and indicate that it could be playing a role in the insect’s demise.
“It is widely accepted that a number of interacting factors are likely to be involved in the decline of bees and other pollinators – lack of flowers, attacks by parasites, and exposure to pesticide cocktails, for example,” Exley explained in a statement. “Aluminum is a known neurotoxin affecting behavior in animal models of aluminum intoxication.”
“Bees, of course, rely heavily on cognitive function in their everyday behavior and these data raise the intriguing specter that aluminum-induced cognitive dysfunction may play a role in their population decline,” he added. “Are we looking at bees with Alzheimer’s disease?”
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