Olfactory associative behavioral differences in three honey bee Apis mellifera L. races under the arid zone ecosystem of central Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Apis mellifera jemenitica is the indigenous race of honey bees in the Arabian Peninsula and is tolerant to local drought conditions. Experiments were undertaken to determine the differences in associative learning and memory of honey bee workers living in the arid zone of Saudi Arabia, utilizing the proboscis extension response (PER). These experiments were conducted on the indigenous race ( A . m . jemenitica ) along with two introduced European races ( A . m . carnica and A . m . ligustica ). The data revealed that A. m. jemenitica is amenable to PER conditioning and may be used in conditioning experiments within the olfactory behavioral paradigm. The results also demonstrated that the three races learn and retain information with different capacities relative to each other during the experimental time periods. Native Arabian bees ( A. m. jemenitica ) exhibited significantly lower PER percentage during second and third conditioning trials when compared to exotic races. Apis mellifera jemenitica also exhibited reduced memory retention at 2 h and 24 h when compared to A. m. carnica and A. m. ligustica. Therefore, the native Arabian bees were relatively slow learners with reduced memory retention compared to the other two races that showed similar learning and memory retention. Three or five conditioning trials and monthly weather conditions (October and December) had no significant effects on learning and memory in A. m. jemenitica. These results emphasized a novel line of research to explore the mechanism and differences in associative learning as well as other forms of learning throughout the year among bee races in the harsh arid conditions of Saudi Arabia. This is the first study in Saudi Arabia to demonstrate inter-race differences regarding olfactory associative learning between native Arabian bees and two introduced European honey bee races.

Expression of heat shock proteins in adult honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) workers under hot-arid subtropical ecosystems

“…The Arabian Peninsula is a subtropical zone characterized by an extremely hot and arid environment (Abou-Shaara et al, 2017, Ali et al, 2017) that might have a significant impact on honey bee life (Abou-Shaara, 2014, Awad et al, 2017, Iqbal et al, 2019a, Joshi and Joshi, 2010). How honeybees survive in such a harsh climate is a big question to explore.…”

Differential Foraging of Indigenous and Exotic Honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) Races on Nectar-Rich Flow in a Subtropical Ecosystem

“…Therefore, correlations between foraging and pollen-gathering activities and weather factors are logically expected to vary geographically, seasonally, and even hourly. On the other hand, the harsh summer weather of Central Arabia affects nectar secretion [26]. This could represent an indirect effect of harsh weather on honeybee foraging rates.…”

“…This study is one element of a major research project investigating how subtropical weather conditions reflect on different key points related to bee colony performance, e.g., nectar secretion dynamics, flowering phenology, pollination ecology, the honey potential of major bee plants [20,21,25,26], the antimicrobial potential of honeys [17], associative learning and heat shock protein expression [27,28], insecticidal-induced changes in the learning of honeybees [29], and the use of geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing technologies to determine the optimal forage capacity [30]. The present experiment was conducted to evaluate the rates of outgoing and pollen-gathering foragers during a period of rich nectar flow.…”

A high quality method for hemolymph collection from honeybee larvae

“…The honeybee Apis mellifera has been used worldwide as a model organism in several studies because it is a species with widely known biology, has a wide geographical distribution, is easily managed and maintained in laboratories, a great indicator of environmental quality and the most frequent floral visitor of agricultural crops [1,2,3]. Therefore, several studies in different areas of science use this species, including studies that evaluate the impact of pesticides [4,5,6,7], host-parasite interactions [8,9,10,11,12,13], behavioral tests [14,15,16] and at the molecular level genomic, transcriptomic and epigenetic patterns [17,18,19,20].…”