Charisse Zou
Dougherty Valley High School
San Ramon, CA
The Development of a Free-Flying Method To Study the Effect of Neonicotinoids on the Positive Transfer of Learning in the Visual Domain of Honeybees
Charisse Zou demonstrated how two commonly used insecticides reduced the cognitive abilities of honeybees. She devised an experiment in which the bees were trained to fly to and enter a maze to learn how the insecticides affected the memory of the honeybees and thus, their foraging behavior. Charisse hopes her results will help decrease the use of these pesticides.
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Charisse Zou, 17, of San Ramon, investigated how two commonly used insecticides affected the cognitive abilities of honeybees for her Regeneron Science Talent Search animal sciences project. Charisse conducted her bee experiments using mazes she constructed in her backyard. After observing how the bees reacted to being placed in the maze, she realized that this process stressed the insects and might affect her results, so she designed an experiment in which the bees were trained to fly to and enter the maze on their own.
Through her observations of the bees’ behavior, Charisse discovered that exposure to the insecticide imidacloprid reduced the medium-term memory of the bees but not their long- and short-term memory. The effect of a stronger insecticide, clothianidin, was more severe, damaging their long-term memory and likely their short- and medium-term memory as well.
Charisse hopes her results will discourage the use of these pesticides.
The daughter of Wei Zou and Qi Zeng, Charisse attends Dougherty Valley High School, where she is the vice president of the Science National Honors Society. Charisse also captains a club soccer team, volunteers for the American Red Cross, and plays the flute and piano.
Beyond the Project
Charisse has led the district-wide STEM program, Science Alliance, as an officer all four years of high school. She hopes to encourage a generation of young beekeepers to follow in the footsteps of experienced colleagues.
FUN FACTS: Charisse is a Taekwondo second-degree blackbelt, a skill she has honed for more than a decade. She describes herself as a “tough girl.”
