Bees give up searching for food in degraded areas rather than travelling further to find it, WA scientists have found.
The finding is part of a study into European honey bees and the significant impact humans have on their metabolism and survival.
Don Bradshaw from The University of Western Australia says the energy expenditure of bees was measured to compare their metabolism in their natural environment and areas where land had been cleared.
"We thought the bees would have a much higher metabolism in degraded areas because they would need to travel further in search of food," Professor Bradshaw said.
"Surprisingly we found the opposite. The metabolic rate of bees in natural woodland was actually significantly higher than in a degraded environment."
The collaborative study between UWA, Kings Park and Botanic Gardens, Curtin University and CSIRO ultimately found that instead of travelling to find food, the bees foraged less and depended on stored resources inside the hive.
The degraded area and natural habitat were about 5km apart, with the bees in degraded areas having a 30 per cent decrease in metabolism and 60 per cent lower nectar intake.
Prof Bradshaw said bees pollinate one-sixth of flowering plants world-wide, helping to produce one-third of what we eat, and the global bee population had plunged in recent decades.
He told AAP he hoped to use the research method on pollinators such as native bees, beetles and ants, to understand what needs to be done before changes in the environment critically harmed them.
"Overseas a mite has been killing off the bees, as well as insecticides," he said.
"The mite has not reached Australia, but it will get here."
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