Bees aren't getting enough sleep, thanks to some common pesticides - CNN

But two new studies have found a commonly used pesticide is disrupting the sleep of bees and flies -- with big consequences for the important insects.

In one study, researchers looked at the effect of pesticides on bumblebee behavior by giving the creatures nectar sugar laced with neonicotinoids -- one of the most commonly used pesticides -- and then tracking their movements in a foraging arena.

The impact of the pesticide -- similar to the amount a bee would encounter in the wild -- was stark.

"It seems to disrupt the body clock in foraging bumblebees -- they forage much less, more of that foraging is happening at nighttime, and they are sleeping a lot more in the daytime.

It's causing a mistiming of their normal behaviors," Kiah Tasman, teaching associate at the University of Bristol's School of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience, told CNN.

This, she explained, could have serious implications: "It's quite worrying because other studies and our studies show that the foraging motivation has decreased."

Many plants -- including the fruit and vegetables that we eat and feed to our livestock -- rely on pollinators, like bees, to reproduce.