Análise de comportamento social da abelha Jataí, Tetragonisca angustula (Latreille, 1811) sob efeito de octocrileno

Abstract

One of the main components of sunscreens, it is included in the category of chemical and organic UV filters and because it is a new product, developed in the 1990s, there are not many studies on its effects, therefore, it is considered an emerging pollutant. Faced with the problem, the suspicion about the effects caused in animals that consume octocrylene daily was the objective of the present work. For the sublethality test, 120 individuals of Tetragonisca angustula were captured, the bees were exposed to octocrylene in different concentrations in addition to the control (water and sugar), the bees that died during the test were removed and counted, the test lasted 48 hours. None of the octocrylene concentrations were sufficient to cause the death of more than 50% (DL50) of the individuals, so the highest concentration was adopted for the next test. For the social behavior test, 108 bees from the same nests used in the previous test were used. were deprived of food. Three bees (one treated and two starved) were gathered in Petri dishes, where three observations of 10 minutes each were carried out with an interval of one hour between them. The results showed that there was a greater number of antennations than trophalaxis and a greater interaction between bees treated with octocrylene than bees treated with sucrose. It was also observed that treated bees interacted more with each other than between bees without food. Therefore, we can conclude that octocrylene at this concentration and exposure time did not change the social interactions of Tetragonisca angustula.