Among the multiple pressures currently driving decline in bee populations, little attention has been given to naturally occurring toxins in plant nectar. We carried out research this summer on invasive Rhododendron ponticum, a plant that contains neurotoxins in its floral nectar. We found this toxin to be lethal to honeybees, but apparently benign to the plant’s main pollinators, bumblebees. Differential responses by bee species to toxins and other pressures means we need to consider bee decline on a species by species basis. Continue reading “What I did this summer: Tortured some bees”