Use of pollen traps to investigate the foraging behaviour of honey bee colonies in kiwifruit orchards

Abstract

The efficiency of a pollen trap in trapping kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa) pollen pellets was investigated. The trap had an average daily efficiency of 16.5 and 16.7% on 2 consecutive days. Hourly efficiencies varied between 0 and 25% with the highest efficiency in the middle of the day which coincided with periods of maximum honey bee (A pis melifera) foraging activity. The amount of staminate pollen in foragers' corbiculae was closely related to the proportion of staminate pollen on their body indicating that pellets can be used as a measure of pollination efficiency.

Wind and honey bee pollination of kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis‘HORT16A’)

“…This was consistent with the reduction in the amount of staminate pollen carried by bees. The proportion of staminate pollen in the pollen pellet of a bee visiting 'Hayward' kiwifruit has been shown to relate well to the proportion carried on its body (Goodwin & Perry 1992). Seed number per fruit decreased by 0.75%/m from staminate vines, which was much less than for 'Hayward' vines (2.3%/m) (Goodwin et al 1999).…”

“…The pollen was then differentially stained to identify cellulose and cytoplasm (Alexander 1980;Goodwin & Perry 1992) and viewed under a microscope.…”

“…Bees are introduced at similar stocking rates to 'Hayward', the same colony strengths are used and they are fed sugar syrup to promote pollen collection (Goodwin et al 1991). Artificial pollination is carried out with A. deliciosa pollen using the same methods as for 'Hayward' in both New Zealand and Italy (Goodwin & Perry 1992).…”

A modular system for trapping and mass-marking bumblebees: applications for studying food choice and foraging range

“…However, while the traps were fitted, all the pollen coming into the colony was sampled. Honeybee pollen traps only sample a proportion of the pollen loads brought to the hive; for example the design used by Goodwin and Perry (1992) had an efficiency of about 17%. Apart from the collection of data on pollen being collected by the colony, the traps also caught nectar foragers and proved useful in monitoring overall colony foraging activity, which was highly significantly correlated with final nest weight.…”

“…The use of pollen traps of various designs (Todd and Bishop, 1940;Synge, 1947;Smith, 1963;Stewart and Shimanuki, 1970) to collect pollen loads from honeybees as they return to their hive has provided data on foraging behaviour (Goodwin and Perry, 1992), competition between bee species (Kribbe, 1993;Fotler, 1995) and food preferences (Parent et al, 1990). To our knowledge, automated pollen capture from bumblebee colonies has not been reported.…”