Honey bees save energy in honey processing by dehydrating nectar before returning to the nest

Abstract

Honey bees process nectar into honey by active evaporation on the tongue and passive evaporation involving nest ventilation and fanning behaviour, as well as enzymatic action. The elimination of excess water from nectar carries considerable energetic costs. The concentration of the nectar load is assumed to remain constant during transport. However, some of this water elimination may occur before foragers return to the nest and pass their nectar loads to receiver bees. In honey bees captured while foraging in Macadamia orchards, we show that the nectar in their crops has approximately twice the sugar concentration of the fresh nectar in flowers. This was true for four Macadamia cultivars, with up to 75% of the initial water content being removed. There is a further concentration increase in the crops of returning bees captured at the hive entrance. The only possible route of water elimination from the crop is via evaporation from the mouthparts. We calculate the savings in honey processing costs to be on average 35 times more than the reduction in flight costs due to reduced body mass. Pre-concentration of nectar in foraging honey bees may be widespread, and of crucial importance for honey storage.

Botanical Origin Influence on Some Honey Physicochemical Characteristics and Antioxidant Properties

“…Afterwards, water loss occurs in parallel with the enzymatic process due to the nectar droplets' repeated ingestion-regurgitation process and is completed after depositing the product in hexagonal cells in the honeycomb, wherein the bees create an airflow with their wings to evaporate even more moisture until a percentage of 20% is reached. The next step is to seal the honey-containing cells with a wax cap, which ensures the safe storage of the honey [2,3].…”

Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy Use in Honey Characterization and Authentication: A systematic review

“…Honey ripening leads to a decrease in the spectral bands corresponding to water and sucrose with an increase in the intensities of bands related to glucose and fructose . In Apis spp., honey ripening involves hydrolysis of sucrose into glucose and fructose by the invertase in the bee’s honey sac, active evaporation through regurgitation and mouthparts movement (“tongue lashing” behavior), passive evaporation of stored nectar in cells, and finally capping of ripened honey in cells when a desirable sugar concentration has been reached (e.g., 80%). , After maturation, honey should have <20% water, with higher moisture content suggesting early harvesting or adulteration by dilution with water . Water content of honey is represented in infrared spectra by the 3300 and 1640 cm –1 peaks of the O–H stretching and bending vibrations.…”

Determination of bioactive compounds and physicochemical param-eters of honey produced in the state of Veracruz, Mexico.

“…This process has been identified as usually occurring in two parts: the first involves evaporation, where this nectar loses an average of a third of its moisture during storage. In the next step, the enzyme invertase hydrolyzes sucrose to produce the monosaccharides fructose and glucose (Lichtenberg-Kraag, 2014;Nicolson et al, 2022;Alaerjani et al, 2022).…”