Effects of Ethanol Ingestion on Aversive Conditioning in Honey Bees (Apis mellifera L.)

Ethanol consumption has been shown to have many deleterious effects, including behavioral alterations, motor deficits, reduction in inhibition, and alteration of neurochemical expression. These effects occur in the wide variety of species that consume ethanol. Although studies have examined aversive conditioning in honey bees (Apis mellifera), few have examined the role of intoxication on the acquisition of learning in such paradigms. The current study continues a line of research using honey bees as a model to explore the behavioral effects of ethanol toxicity. A passive avoidance task is used to explore how increasing dosages of ethanol affects the ability of honey bees to perform this task. The results show that honey bees exposed to higher concentrations of ethanol have slower passive avoidance acquisition than bees exposed to lower concentrations under the same conditions. Bees not experiencing aversive stimuli displayed no difference from baseline behavior when exposed to varying concentrations of ethanol.