Honey bee foragers balance colony nutritional deficiencies

Hendriksma, Harmen P.; Shafir, Sharoni

doi:10.1007/s00265-016-2067-5

Cited by 112 publications

(100 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…It is unknown whether bumble bee foragers adjust their nutritional and foraging preferences depending on the colony needs, and specifically the presence of larvae (Hendriksma and Shafir, 2016). Information on pollen quality and its availability in the colony might be accessible to workers via pollen pots (Dornhaus and Chittka, 2005;Kitaoka and Nieh, 2009), allowing the colony to make informed foraging decisions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bumble bees regulate their intake of the essential protein and lipid pollen macronutrients

Vaudo

Stabler

Patch

et al. 2016

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Bee population declines are linked to reduction of nutritional resources due to land-use intensification, yet we know little about the specific nutritional needs of many bee species. Pollen provides bees their primary source of protein and lipids, but nutritional quality varies widely among host-plant species. Therefore, bees may be adapted to assess resource quality and adjust their foraging behavior to balance nutrition from multiple food sources. We tested the ability of two bumble bee species, Bombus terrestris and B. impatiens, to regulate protein and lipid intake. We restricted B. terrestris adults to single synthetic diets varying in protein:lipid ratios (P:L). The bees overate protein on low fat diets and overate lipid on high fat diets to reach their targets of lipid and protein respectively. The bees survived best on a 10:1 P:L diet; the risk of dying increased as a function of dietary lipid when bees ate diets with lipid contents greater than 5:1 P:L. Hypothesizing that P:L intake target of adult worker bumble bees was between 25:1-5:1, we presented workers from both species unbalanced but complementary paired diets to determine if they self-select their diet to reach a specific intake target. Bees consumed similar amounts of proteins and lipids in each treatment and averaged a 14:1 P:L for B. terrestris and 12:1 P:L for B. impatiens. These results demonstrate that adult worker bumble bees likely select foods that provide them with a specific ratio of P:L. These P:L intake targets could affect pollen foraging in the field and help explain patterns of host-plant species choice by bumble bees.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bumble bees regulate their intake of the essential protein and lipid pollen macronutrients

Vaudo

Stabler

Patch

et al. 2016

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…There was no indication that pollen protein content affected honeybee foraging choice. Individual honeybees seem to be able to choose pollen with the most essential amino acids for honeybees over poorer pollen and choose pollen sources rich in specific amino acids that balance their colony's state of nutrition (Cook et al, 2003;Hendriksma & Shafir, 2016). Amino acids differ between some strawberry cultivars but this difference has not been shown to affect honeybee foraging in strawberry (Gr€ unfeld et al, 1989).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forage quality and quantity affect red mason bees and honeybees differently in flowers of strawberry varieties

Ahrenfeldt

Sigsgaard

Hansted

et al. 2019

Entomologia Exp Applicata

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Nectar is a vital source of energy for bees and other pollinators and pollen represents the only source of protein in the diet of bees. Nectar and pollen quality and quantity can therefore affect foraging choices. Strawberry, Fragaria × ananassa (Rosaceae), is a flowering crop that requires insect pollination for the berries to develop optimally. The solitary red mason bee, Osmia bicornis L. (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae), occurs naturally but like the eusocial western honeybee, Apis mellifera mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae), it is also a commercially reared pollinator used in strawberry production. We hypothesized that strawberry nectar and pollen quality would affect the foraging choice of these two types of bees. In this study nectar and pollen quality is represented by various levels of sugar and protein content, respectively, as well as the number of open strawberry flowers in the experimental field, would affect the foraging choice of these two types of bees. Consistent with previous studies, we found significant and major differences between strawberry varieties in proportions of sucrose in the nectar sugar and in pollen viability – a proxy for pollen protein content. All measured parameters had a significant effect on red mason bee visitation frequency. Contrary to expectations, honeybee foraging behavior was only affected by the number of open flowers and not by any of the quality parameters measured. Our findings indicate that red mason bees were capable of assessing nectar and pollen quality and prioritize accordingly. The pattern observed indicates that individual red mason bees changed foraging focus between strawberry varieties depending on whether nectar or pollen was collected. Our results suggest that targeted breeding of varieties toward high levels of nectar sugar and sucrose concentrations and high pollen protein content may increase pollination success from red mason bees and possibly other solitary bees.

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“…Despite the importance of P:L ratios, other components in pollen, such as micronutrients or individual amino or fatty acids, may still influence bee foraging decisions (45)(46)(47). Indeed, pollenkitt, which includes free fatty and amino acids that vary among pollen species, is critical for pollen recognition and phagostimulation (34-36, 48, 49).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Macronutrient ratios in pollen shape bumble bee ( Bombus impatiens ) foraging strategies and floral preferences

Vaudo

Patch

Mortensen

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

304

302

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To fuel their activities and rear their offspring, foraging bees must obtain a sufficient quality and quantity of nutritional resources from a diverse plant community. Pollen is the primary source of proteins and lipids for bees, and the concentrations of these nutrients in pollen can vary widely among host-plant species. Therefore we hypothesized that foraging decisions of bumble bees are driven by both the protein and lipid content of pollen. By successively reducing environmental and floral cues, we analyzed pollen-foraging preferences of Bombus impatiens in (i) host-plant species, (ii) pollen isolated from these hostplant species, and (iii) nutritionally modified single-source pollen diets encompassing a range of protein and lipid concentrations. In our semifield experiments, B. impatiens foragers exponentially increased their foraging rates of pollen from plant species with high protein: lipid (P:L) ratios; the most preferred plant species had the highest ratio (∼4.6:1). These preferences were confirmed in cage studies where, in pairwise comparisons in the absence of other floral cues, B. impatiens workers still preferred pollen with higher P:L ratios. Finally, when presented with nutritionally modified pollen, workers were most attracted to pollen with P:L ratios of 5:1 and 10:1, but increasing the protein or lipid concentration (while leaving ratios intact) reduced attraction. Thus, macronutritional ratios appear to be a primary factor driving bee pollen-foraging behavior and may explain observed patterns of host-plant visitation across the landscape. The nutritional quality of pollen resources should be taken into consideration when designing conservation habitats supporting bee populations.foraging behavior | nutritional ecology | pollen | pollinator | preferences F oraging animals must obtain appropriate nutrients for growth, development, and reproduction from their environments. Bees forage in a very complex and changing environment, where floral nutritional resources (nectar and pollen) vary widely in quality and quantity among plant species (1). These resources are accompanied by myriad floral cues, including floral odors, color, morphology, and display area, and can vary dramatically in spatiotemporal availability; all these factors may influence and reinforce foraging decisions (2, 3). Worldwide declines in populations of bees and other pollinators have been linked to reduced diversity and abundance of host-plant species, likely placing bees under nutritional stress (4, 5). To develop strategic conservation protocols that preserve or restore foraging habitat that supports healthy pollinator populations, we must understand how bees forage in their environments to meet their nutritional needs. It is well established that solitary and social insects can forage selectively and regulate their intake of synthetic diets spanning a range of macronutrient nutritional qualities to reach their optimal, species-specific nutritional intake (6-8). Here we examine whether the generalist bumble bee species Bombus...

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Honey bee foragers balance colony nutritional deficiencies

Cited by 112 publications

References 52 publications

Bumble bees regulate their intake of the essential protein and lipid pollen macronutrients

Bumble bees regulate their intake of the essential protein and lipid pollen macronutrients

Forage quality and quantity affect red mason bees and honeybees differently in flowers of strawberry varieties

Macronutrient ratios in pollen shape bumble bee ( Bombus impatiens ) foraging strategies and floral preferences

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