Scientists discover bees survive underwater for a week in lab accident

The ‘shock’ discovery that bees can survive underwater for a week was made by a group of scientists who accidentally submerged some of them in water during an experiment.

The original purpose of the 2022 study was to look at the impact of pesticide residues in soil on queen bees hibernating underground.

However, it headed in a different direction when ‘an experimental oversight led to the inadvertent accumulation of water’ on dormant queen bees.

They sleeping queens were left submerged in water after condensation build-up in the fridge dripped into the tubes they were in.

The ‘shock’ discovery that bees can survive underwater for a week was made by a group of scientists who accidentally drowned some of them in an experiment (stock image)

Scientists at the University of Guelph in Canada were worried that they mishap had killed all their bees but were shocked to find that many of them had survived.

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The lead author of the study Dr Sabrina Rondeau said: ‘I’ve been studying bumblebees for a very long time.

‘I’ve talked about it to a lot of people and no one knew that this was a possibility.’

She decided to conduct a follow-up experiment to investigate the unexpected and accidental finding in more detail.

The team gathered 147 hibernating queens in tubes – some with no water as a comparative group, some floating in water and some fully submerged using a plunger for a period ranging from eight hours to seven days.

Remarkably, 81 percent of the hibernating queens that were submerged not only survived seven days, but once returned to dry conditions remained alive eight weeks later.

The long-term impact on the bees’ health and the effects it could have on a colony still needs further research, Dr Rondeau noted.

Scientists at the University of Guelph in Canada were worried that they mishap had killed all their bees but were shocked to find that many of them had survived (stock image)

She added that the common eastern bumblebees used in the study are found in North America and are particularly hardy and do not show the same degree of population declines as other species.

Dr Rondeau said that they are now wondering whether this species resistance to flooding could be part of the reason why their population declines are lower.

The study would have to be replicated on other species of bumblebees to determine how common the trait is but she said ‘it’s encouraging to know that at least (flooding) is not another big threat that we have to consider’.

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