Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 19, 2026

A Novel Behavioral Assay to Investigate Gustatory Responses of Individual, Freely-moving Bumble Bees (Bombus terrestris)
Published on: July 21, 2016
Do geomagnetic storms change the behaviour of the stingless bee guiruçu (Schwarziana quadripunctata)?
Darci M S Esquivel1, E Wajnberg, F S do Nascimento
1Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas, R Xavier Sigaud 150, 22290-180, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. darci@cbpf.br
Abstract:
Six behavioural experiments were carried out to investigate the magnetic field effects on the nest-exiting flight directions of the honeybee Schwarziana quadripunctata (Meliponini). No significant differences resulted during six experiment days under varying geomagnetic field and the applied static inhomogeneous field (about ten times the geomagnetic field) conditions. A surprising statistically significant response was obtained on a unique magnetic storm day. The magnetic nanoparticles in these bees, revealed by ferromagnetic resonance, could be involved in the observed effect of the geomagnetic storm.

