Re: [beemonitoring] CO2 and bumble bees
- Honey bee queens are routinely anesthetized with CO2 for artificial insemination and then retreated a day later to help start oviposition. with workers it does seem to remove short term memory, like location of nectar plants.Anita CollinsIf we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be called research.
RE knocking bees out temporarily for ID......I remember some studies from the 90s that found increased larval ejection in bumble bee colonies following CO2 narcosis of workers. I haven't looked into this lately to know if people figured out all of what was going on there, but I've been avoiding its use to be on the safe side.
PhD Student, Dept of Entomology
University of Minnesota
219 Hodson Hall, 1980 Folwell Ave
Saint Paul MN 55108