Activity rhythm and action range of workers of the invasive hornet predator of honeybees Vespa velutina, measured by radio frequency identification tags

Abstract

In social insects, the activity rhythm of foragers and their action range determinate the activity of the colony. In vespids, which are mostly predators, the foraging range of workers determines their maximum predation pressure round the nest. One of these species, Vespa velutina, a recently invasive species introduced into Europe, exerts a strong predation on honeybees at the hive. Therefore, the definition of its activity rhythm and spatial range of predation is of primary importance. Using radio frequency identification tags (RFID), two experiments were carried out to (a) determine their return ability (called homing) in releasing 318 individuals at different distance from their colony and (b) monitor their foraging activity rhythm and the duration of their flights based on 71 individuals followed 24 hr/24 during 2 months. The homing ability of V. velutina was evaluated to be up to 5,000 m and was not affected by the cardinal orientation of release point. The lag time to return to the nest increased with the distance of release. Most of the flight activity took place between 07:00 a.m. and 08:00 p.m., hornets doing principally short flights of less than an hour. Foraging range was thus estimated ca. 1,000 m around the nest. This study of V. velutina assisted by RFID tags provides for the first time a baseline for its potential foraging distance that increase our knowledge of this species to (a) refine more accurately models for risk assessment and (b) define security perimeter for early detection of predation on invasion front.

Patterns of Vespa velutina invasion in Portugal using crowdsourced data

“…Estimating the likelihood and identifying the pathways of human-mediated dispersal is also crucial to increase the reliability of predictions (Robinet et al, 2019). In addition, the precise determination of foundresses dispersal ability will contribute to refine predictive models (Poidatz et al, 2018), and crowdsourcing data will allow for collection of larger amounts of information. Yet, attention must be paid to the use of these data for modelling purposes, as opportunistic observations could be spatially biased and/or confused by other similar species if not properly validated (Weiser et al, 2019).…”

Measuring ontogenetic shifts in central-place foraging insects: a case study with honey bees

“…harmonic radar, image-based optical counter, and RFID). While developed for the study on honey bees, the present method could propose new ecological applications of individual life-long monitoring devices to detect ontogenetic shifts in the behaviour of other central-place foraging insects, such as bumble bees (Gill & Raine, 2014; Crall et al, 2018; Minahan & Brunet, 2018), wasps, hornets (Poidatz, Monceau, Bonnard, & Thiéry, 2018) and ants (Pinter-Wollman et al, 2012). The sensitivity analysis showed a higher performance of the aof method to detect behavioural changes when the number of data points in time series increased, and an additional performance gain whenever the data variance decreased.…”

Interspecific hierarchies from aggressiveness and body size among the invasive alien hornet, Vespa velutina nigrithorax, and five native hornets in South Korea

“…Although V. velutina has a lower ecological niche than native hornets, the colonies are two to four times larger [19,70], which is an overwhelming number of individuals that can obtain food resources in nature. In addition, V. velutina has a good flight ability compared to other hornets [71,72] and hunts for food quickly and safely through hawking [46,73], making it very efficient. Altering the concentration and composition of alarm pheromones in areas it has invaded also creates an effective defense strategy against potential predators [74,75].…”