Avaliação do efeito da substância Timol sobre as Abelhas Apis mellifera E Scaptotrigona postica.

Abstract

The use of products based on plant extracts is becoming increasingly important due to their ecotoxicological properties. However, they can also interfere negatively with other beneficial organisms. This work aims to evaluate the effect of thymol on the bees Apis mellifera L. and Scaptotrigona postica. In the laboratory, they were anesthetized with CO2 and then placed in 500 mL plastic pots with perforations. In total, 14 repetitions were performed. Four concentrations of thymol (10, 14, 18 and 23 mg) were tested in sugar syrup solution (50%) and control for the mortality test. For repellency, free-choice exposure was performed in cages of the same concentrations. After 5 hours of oral exposure to treatments containing thymol and syrup, mortality was evaluated and the bees were provided with only sugar water syrup, 24 h after the beginning of the experiment, mortality was evaluated. In the repellency tests, evaluations were carried out every 5 minutes until a total of 120 min. Thymol had no lethal effect on A. mellifera bees, but showed a sub-lethal effect evaluated over 24 hours. At the concentrations tested in this work, thymol showed sublethal, repellent and anti-feeding effects on A. Mellifera bees. In S. postica bees, thymol showed a lethal, anti-feeding, repellent effect, and for the concentrations used, the stingless bee showed to be more sensitive to the effects of Thymol compared to A. mellifera. Keywords: Pollinators. Repellency. Mortality. Thymol.