Bees' foraging for flowers 'hampered by diesel exhaust'

"Bees need to decipher the chemical messages they're getting to be able to home in on the flowers they know will give the best yield [of nectar]," said Dr Newman. The team carried out a test that involved teaching bees to associate the smell of a particular chemical with being given a drop of sugary liquid. So after a few trials where the scent of the odour is followed closely by a sweet drop of liquid, the bees stick out their tongues as soon as they detect the scent. When these odour chemicals were degraded by NOx, the bees were much less responsive to their smell and would not stick out their tongues.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/24364637%23sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa