---
_id: '2086'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: Pathogens may gain a fitness advantage through manipulation of the behaviour
    of their hosts. Likewise, host behavioural changes can be a defence mechanism,
    counteracting the impact of pathogens on host fitness. We apply harmonic radar
    technology to characterize the impact of an emerging pathogen - Nosema ceranae
    (Microsporidia) - on honeybee (Apis mellifera) flight and orientation performance
    in the field. Honeybees are the most important commercial pollinators. Emerging
    diseases have been proposed to play a prominent role in colony decline, partly
    through sub-lethal behavioural manipulation of their hosts. We found that homing
    success was significantly reduced in diseased (65.8%) versus healthy foragers
    (92.5%). Although lost bees had significantly reduced continuous flight times
    and prolonged resting times, other flight characteristics and navigational abilities
    showed no significant difference between infected and non-infected bees. Our results
    suggest that infected bees express normal flight characteristics but are constrained
    in their homing ability, potentially compromising the colony by reducing its resource
    inputs, but also counteracting the intra-colony spread of infection. We provide
    the first high-resolution analysis of sub-lethal effects of an emerging disease
    on insect flight behaviour. The potential causes and the implications for both
    host and parasite are discussed.
acknowledgement: This study was funded jointly by a grant from BBSRC, Defra, NERC,
  the Scottish Government and the Wellcome Trust, under the Insect Pollinators Initiative
  (grant numbers BB/I00097/1 and BB/I000100/1). Rothamsted Research is a national
  institute of bioscience strategically funded by the UK Biotechnology and Biological
  Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).
article_number: e103989
article_processing_charge: No
author:
- first_name: Stephan
  full_name: Wolf, Stephan
  last_name: Wolf
- first_name: Dino
  full_name: Mcmahon, Dino
  last_name: Mcmahon
- first_name: Ka
  full_name: Lim, Ka
  last_name: Lim
- first_name: Christopher
  full_name: Pull, Christopher
  id: 3C7F4840-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
  last_name: Pull
  orcid: 0000-0003-1122-3982
- first_name: Suzanne
  full_name: Clark, Suzanne
  last_name: Clark
- first_name: Robert
  full_name: Paxton, Robert
  last_name: Paxton
- first_name: Juliet
  full_name: Osborne, Juliet
  last_name: Osborne
citation:
  ama: 'Wolf S, Mcmahon D, Lim K, et al. So near and yet so far: Harmonic radar reveals
    reduced homing ability of Nosema infected honeybees. <i>PLoS One</i>. 2014;9(8).
    doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0103989">10.1371/journal.pone.0103989</a>'
  apa: 'Wolf, S., Mcmahon, D., Lim, K., Pull, C., Clark, S., Paxton, R., &#38; Osborne,
    J. (2014). So near and yet so far: Harmonic radar reveals reduced homing ability
    of Nosema infected honeybees. <i>PLoS One</i>. Public Library of Science. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0103989">https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0103989</a>'
  chicago: 'Wolf, Stephan, Dino Mcmahon, Ka Lim, Christopher Pull, Suzanne Clark,
    Robert Paxton, and Juliet Osborne. “So near and yet so Far: Harmonic Radar Reveals
    Reduced Homing Ability of Nosema Infected Honeybees.” <i>PLoS One</i>. Public
    Library of Science, 2014. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0103989">https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0103989</a>.'
  ieee: 'S. Wolf <i>et al.</i>, “So near and yet so far: Harmonic radar reveals reduced
    homing ability of Nosema infected honeybees,” <i>PLoS One</i>, vol. 9, no. 8.
    Public Library of Science, 2014.'
  ista: 'Wolf S, Mcmahon D, Lim K, Pull C, Clark S, Paxton R, Osborne J. 2014. So
    near and yet so far: Harmonic radar reveals reduced homing ability of Nosema infected
    honeybees. PLoS One. 9(8), e103989.'
  mla: 'Wolf, Stephan, et al. “So near and yet so Far: Harmonic Radar Reveals Reduced
    Homing Ability of Nosema Infected Honeybees.” <i>PLoS One</i>, vol. 9, no. 8,
    e103989, Public Library of Science, 2014, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0103989">10.1371/journal.pone.0103989</a>.'
  short: S. Wolf, D. Mcmahon, K. Lim, C. Pull, S. Clark, R. Paxton, J. Osborne, PLoS
    One 9 (2014).
date_created: 2018-12-11T11:55:37Z
date_published: 2014-08-06T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2025-09-29T11:45:41Z
day: '06'
ddc:
- '570'
department:
- _id: SyCr
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0103989
external_id:
  isi:
  - '000339995100042'
file:
- access_level: open_access
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  creator: system
  date_created: 2018-12-12T10:13:55Z
  date_updated: 2020-07-14T12:45:28Z
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file_date_updated: 2020-07-14T12:45:28Z
has_accepted_license: '1'
intvolume: '         9'
isi: 1
issue: '8'
language:
- iso: eng
month: '08'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
publication: PLoS One
publication_status: published
publisher: Public Library of Science
publist_id: '4949'
pubrep_id: '437'
quality_controlled: '1'
related_material:
  record:
  - id: '9888'
    relation: research_data
    status: public
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: 'So near and yet so far: Harmonic radar reveals reduced homing ability of Nosema
  infected honeybees'
tmp:
  image: /images/cc_by.png
  legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode
  name: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0)
  short: CC BY (4.0)
type: journal_article
user_id: 317138e5-6ab7-11ef-aa6d-ffef3953e345
volume: 9
year: '2014'
...