You are trying to determine if honeybees have social immunity to nosema, an economically devastating parasite that attacks adult honeybees. You mark some honeybees with a spot of red dye and expose them to a solution containing a sublethal dose of the parasites. Another set of honeybees is exposed to the same solution without parasites. After this exposure, you mix some of the unmarked bees with the marked bees (Mixed Group). The rest of the unmarked bees are not mixed with other bees (Unmixed Group). When you expose both the Mixed and Unmixed groups of bees to a lethal dose of the parasite, all the bees die. What might you conclude from this experiment?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Since all bees died when exposed to a lethal dose of the parasite, regardless of whether they were previously mixed with bees exposed to a sublethal dose or not, it indicates that there is no social immunity mechanism that protects them from the parasite.

You Are Trying to Determine If Honeybees Have Social Immunity