Effects of parasites and pathogens on bee cognition Gómez-Moracho, Tamara Heeb, Philip Lihoreau, Mathieu Bumblebee Crithidia Cognition We thank Darren Evans, James Gilbert and Gordon Port for inviting us to contribute to this special issue of Ecological Entomology. We also thank the editor and the two anonymous referees for their constructive comments on the manuscript. TGM is funded by a postdoctoral fellowship from the Fyssen Foundation. PH is funded by the ‘Laboratoire d’Excellence (LABEX)’ TULIP (ANR-10-LABX-41). ML is supported by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and by grants from the IDEX of the University of Toulouse and the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR-16-CE02-0002-01). The authors declare no conflict of interest. 1. Bees are key pollinators and their widespread decline has raised considerable concerns regarding the sustainability of ecosystems and food production. Many environmental stressors do not directly kill bees, but they alter their physiology and behaviour, ultimately impacting colonies and populations. 2. This review considers the impact of parasites and pathogens on bee cognition. 3. First the main parasites and pathogens of bees are described, as well as how they modify the foraging behaviour, learning and memory of their hosts. 4. Next, the various defence mechanisms developed by bees to mitigate these effects at both the individual and collective levels are examined. 5. Finally, there is a discussion on how integrating research on host parasites, animal behaviour and cognition will provide a more detailed assessment of the contribution of parasites and pathogens to declines in the bee population and help to inform constructive ecological interventions. 2026-02-16T12:16:34Z 2026-02-16T12:16:34Z 2017 journal article Gómez-Moracho, T.; Heeb, P. y Lihoreau, M. (2017). Effects of parasites and pathogens on bee cognition. Ecological EntomologyVolume 42, Issue S1 pp. 51-64. https://doi.org/10.1111/een.12434 1365-2311 0307-6946 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/111042 10.1111/een.12434 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ open access Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional Royal Entomological Society