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Alves DA, George EA, Kaur R, Brockmann A, Hrncir M, Grüter C. Diverse communication strategies in bees as a window into adaptations to an unpredictable world. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2219031120. [PMID: 37279263 PMCID: PMC10268221 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2219031120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Communication is a fundamental feature of animal societies and helps their members to solve the challenges they encounter, from exploiting food sources to fighting enemies or finding a new home. Eusocial bees inhabit a wide range of environments and they have evolved a multitude of communication signals that help them exploit resources in their environment efficiently. We highlight recent advances in our understanding of bee communication strategies and discuss how variation in social biology, such as colony size or nesting habits, and ecological conditions are important drivers of variation in communication strategies. Anthropogenic factors, such as habitat conversion, climate change, or the use of agrochemicals, are changing the world bees inhabit, and it is becoming clear that this affects communication both directly and indirectly, for example by affecting food source availability, social interactions among nestmates, and cognitive functions. Whether and how bees adapt their foraging and communication strategies to these changes represents a new frontier in bee behavioral and conservation research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Denise A. Alves
- Department of Entomology and Acarology, Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture, University of São Paulo, Lausanne,13418-900Piracicaba, Brazil
| | - Ebi A. George
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, Biophore, University of Lausanne, Bristol1015, Switzerland
| | - Rajbir Kaur
- School of Biological Sciences, University of BristolBS8 1TQ, United Kingdom
| | - Axel Brockmann
- National Centre for Biological Sciences – Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru560065, India
| | - Michael Hrncir
- Department of Physiology, Bioscience Institute, University of São Paulo05508-090São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Christoph Grüter
- School of Biological Sciences, University of BristolBS8 1TQ, United Kingdom
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Shackleton K, Balfour NJ, Al Toufailia H, James E, Ratnieks FL. Honey bee waggle dances facilitate shorter foraging distances and increased foraging aggregation. Anim Behav 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2023.01.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/25/2023]
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3
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Jachuła J, Denisow B, Wrzesień M, Ziółkowska E. The need for weeds: Man-made, non-cropped habitats complement crops and natural habitats in providing honey bees and bumble bees with pollen resources. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2022; 840:156551. [PMID: 35688241 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.156551] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2022] [Revised: 05/30/2022] [Accepted: 06/04/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
In Europe, honey bees and bumble bees are among the most important pollinators, and there is a growing interest in understanding the effects of floral resource availability on their survival. Yet, to date, data on nectar and pollen supplies available to bees in agricultural landscapes are still scarce. In this paper, we quantify species-, habitat- and landscape-scale pollen production in the Lublin Upland, SE Poland. The production per unit area was highest (mean = 2.2-2.6 g/m2) in non-forest woody vegetation, field margins and fallows, whilst significantly lower pollen amounts were shown to be available in road verges and railway embankments (mean = 1.3-1.6 g/m2). At landscape scale, natural and semi-natural areas (forests and meadows/pastures) offered ca. 44% of the total pollen resources during the year. Relatively high amounts of pollen (ca. 35% of the year-round total pollen resources) were from winter rape, but this resource was short-term. Man-made, non-cropped habitats added only ca. 18% of the total pollen mass offered for pollinators during flowering season. However, they provided 66-99% of pollen resources available from July to October. There exists an imbalance in the availability of pollen resources throughout the year. Hence, a diversity of natural, semi-natural and man-made, non-cropped areas is required to support the seasonal continuity of pollen resources for pollinators in an agricultural landscape. Efforts should be made to secure habitat heterogeneity to enhance the flower diversity and continual pollen availability for pollinators.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacek Jachuła
- Department of Botany and Plant Physiology, Subdepartment of Plant Biology, University of Life Sciences, 15 Akademicka St., 20-950 Lublin, Poland; The National Institute of Horticultural Research, Konstytucji 3 Maja 1/3, 96-100 Skierniewice, Poland.
| | - Bożena Denisow
- Department of Botany and Plant Physiology, Subdepartment of Plant Biology, University of Life Sciences, 15 Akademicka St., 20-950 Lublin, Poland.
| | - Małgorzata Wrzesień
- Department of Botany, Mycology and Ecology, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, 19 Akademicka St., 20-033 Lublin, Poland.
| | - Elżbieta Ziółkowska
- Institute of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 7, 30-387 Kraków, Poland.
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Hasenjager MJ, Franks VR, Leadbeater E. From dyads to collectives: a review of honeybee signalling. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-022-03218-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
AbstractThe societies of honeybees (Apis spp.) are microcosms of divided labour where the fitness interests of individuals are so closely aligned that, in some contexts, the colony behaves as an entity in itself. Self-organization at this extraordinary level requires sophisticated communication networks, so it is not surprising that the celebrated waggle dance, by which bees share information about locations outside the hive, evolved here. Yet bees within the colony respond to several other lesser-known signalling systems, including the tremble dance, the stop signal and the shaking signal, whose roles in coordinating worker behaviour are not yet fully understood. Here, we firstly bring together the large but disparate historical body of work that has investigated the “meaning” of such signals for individual bees, before going on to discuss how network-based approaches can show how such signals function as a complex system to control the collective foraging effort of these remarkable social insect societies.
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Baden-Böhm F, Thiele J, Dauber J. Response of honeybee colony size to flower strips in agricultural landscapes depends on areal proportion, spatial distribution and plant composition. Basic Appl Ecol 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.baae.2022.02.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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CSI Pollen: Diversity of Honey Bee Collected Pollen Studied by Citizen Scientists. INSECTS 2021; 12:insects12110987. [PMID: 34821788 PMCID: PMC8625907 DOI: 10.3390/insects12110987] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2021] [Accepted: 10/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
A diverse supply of pollen is an important factor for honey bee health, but information about the pollen diversity available to colonies at the landscape scale is largely missing. In this COLOSS study, beekeeper citizen scientists sampled and analyzed the diversity of pollen collected by honey bee colonies. As a simple measure of diversity, beekeepers determined the number of colors found in pollen samples that were collected in a coordinated and standardized way. Altogether, 750 beekeepers from 28 different regions from 24 countries participated in the two-year study and collected and analyzed almost 18,000 pollen samples. Pollen samples contained approximately six different colors in total throughout the sampling period, of which four colors were abundant. We ran generalized linear mixed models to test for possible effects of diverse factors such as collection, i.e., whether a minimum amount of pollen was collected or not, and habitat type on the number of colors found in pollen samples. To identify habitat effects on pollen diversity, beekeepers' descriptions of the surrounding landscape and CORINE land cover classes were investigated in two different models, which both showed that both the total number and the rare number of colors in pollen samples were positively affected by 'urban' habitats or 'artificial surfaces', respectively. This citizen science study underlines the importance of the habitat for pollen diversity for bees and suggests higher diversity in urban areas.
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Japanese Honeybees ( Apis cerana japonica Radoszkowski, 1877) May Be Resilient to Land Use Change. INSECTS 2021; 12:insects12080685. [PMID: 34442251 PMCID: PMC8396638 DOI: 10.3390/insects12080685] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2021] [Revised: 07/27/2021] [Accepted: 07/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Simple Summary Pollinators are threatened globally by growing urban sprawl and agriculture. The Western Honeybee (Apis mellifera) readily adapts to whatever food is available, so people have made it the most widely distributed pollinator across the world. Previous research has suggested that the Western Honeybee may be less resilient to land use change outside of its natural range. This study examines a different honeybee species—the Japanese Honeybee (Apis cerana japonica). Unlike the Western Honeybee, this species is found almost exclusively in its natural range in Japan. Consequently, it may be better adapted to its local food sources and therefore more resilient. Working in southern Japan, in the Nagasaki and Saga prefectures, we looked at the nectar and pollen that the Japanese Honeybee feeds on. Their food intake was then examined in relation to local land use composition. We found minimal impact of increasing urban sprawl on the forage of the Japanese Honeybee. This goes against previous studies on the Western Honeybee elsewhere in the world. Though in need of a direct comparison with Western Honeybee, these preliminary results could be due to differences in urban green infrastructure in Japan, or due to an adaptation by the Japanese honeybee to its surroundings. Abstract Pollinators are being threatened globally by urbanisation and agricultural intensification, driven by a growing human population. Understanding these impacts on landscapes and pollinators is critical to ensuring a robust pollination system. Remote sensing data on land use attributes have previously linked honeybee nutrition to land use in the Western Honeybee (Apis mellifera L.). Here, we instead focus on the less commonly studied Apis cerana japonica—the Japanese Honeybee. Our study presents preliminary data comparing forage (honey and pollen) with land use across a rural-urban gradient from 22 sites in Kyushu, southern Japan. Honey samples were collected from hives between June 2018 and August 2019. Pollen were collected and biotyped from hives in urban and rural locations (n = 4). Previous studies of honey show substantial variation in monosaccharide content. Our analysis of A. cerana japonica honey found very little variation in glucose and fructose (which accounted for 97% of monosaccharides), despite substantial differences in surrounding forage composition. As expected, we observed temporal variation in pollen foraged by A. cerana japonica, likely dependent on flowering phenology. These preliminary results suggest that the forage and nutrition of A. cerana japonica may not be negatively affected by urban land use. This highlights the need for further comparative studies between A. cerana japonica and A. mellifera as it could suggest a resilience in pollinators foraging in their native range.
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Kohl PL, Thulasi N, Rutschmann B, George EA, Steffan-Dewenter I, Brockmann A. Adaptive evolution of honeybee dance dialects. Proc Biol Sci 2020; 287:20200190. [PMID: 32126959 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.0190] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Efficient communication is highly important for the evolutionary success of social animals. Honeybees (genus Apis) are unique in that they communicate the spatial information of resources using a symbolic 'language', the waggle dance. Different honeybee species differ in foraging ecology but it remains unknown whether this shaped variation in the dance. We studied distance dialects-interspecific differences in how waggle duration relates to flight distance-and tested the hypothesis that these evolved to maximize communication precision over the bees' foraging ranges. We performed feeder experiments with Apis cerana, A. florea and A. dorsata in India and found that A. cerana had the steepest dialect, i.e. a rapid increase in waggle duration with increasing feeder distance, A. florea had an intermediate, and A. dorsata had the lowest dialect. By decoding dances for natural food sites, we inferred that the foraging range was smallest in A. cerana, intermediate in A. florea and largest in A. dorsata. The inverse correlation between foraging range and dialect was corroborated when comparing six (sub)species across the geographical range of the genus including previously published data. We conclude that dance dialects constitute adaptations resulting from a trade-off between the spatial range and the spatial accuracy of communication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick L Kohl
- National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bellary Road, Bangalore 560065, India.,Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany
| | - Neethu Thulasi
- National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bellary Road, Bangalore 560065, India.,Department of Apiculture, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bellary Road, Bangalore 560065, India
| | - Benjamin Rutschmann
- National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bellary Road, Bangalore 560065, India.,Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany
| | - Ebi A George
- National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bellary Road, Bangalore 560065, India
| | - Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter
- Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany
| | - Axel Brockmann
- National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bellary Road, Bangalore 560065, India
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Hasenjager MJ, Hoppitt W, Leadbeater E. Network-based diffusion analysis reveals context-specific dominance of dance communication in foraging honeybees. Nat Commun 2020; 11:625. [PMID: 32005817 PMCID: PMC6994492 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-14410-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2019] [Accepted: 12/19/2019] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
The honeybee (Apis mellifera) dance communication system is a marvel of collective behaviour, but the added value it brings to colony foraging efficiency is poorly understood. In temperate environments, preventing communication of foraging locations rarely decreases colony food intake, potentially because simultaneous transmission of olfactory information also plays a major role in foraging. Here, we employ social network analyses that quantify information flow across multiple temporally varying networks (each representing a different interaction type) to evaluate the relative contributions of dance communication and hive-based olfactory information transfer to honeybee recruitment events. We show that virtually all successful recruits to novel locations rely upon dance information rather than olfactory cues that could otherwise guide them to the same resource. Conversely, during reactivation to known sites, dances are relatively less important, as foragers are primarily guided by olfactory information. By disentangling the contributions of multiple information networks, the contexts in which dance communication truly matters amid a complex system full of redundancy can now be identified. Honeybees have a sophisticated system to communicate foraging locations through a “dance”, but they also share food-related olfactory cues. Here, Hasenjager and colleagues use social network analysis to disentangle how foraging information is transmitted through these systems in different contexts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew J Hasenjager
- Department of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, TW20 0EX, UK.
| | - William Hoppitt
- Department of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, TW20 0EX, UK
| | - Ellouise Leadbeater
- Department of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, TW20 0EX, UK
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10
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Nürnberger F, Keller A, Härtel S, Steffan‐Dewenter I. Honey bee waggle dance communication increases diversity of pollen diets in intensively managed agricultural landscapes. Mol Ecol 2019; 28:3602-3611. [DOI: 10.1111/mec.15156] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2019] [Revised: 06/04/2019] [Accepted: 06/13/2019] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Fabian Nürnberger
- Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocenter University of Würzburg Würzburg Germany
- Thünen Institute of Biodiversity Braunschweig Germany
| | - Alexander Keller
- Department of Bioinformatics and Center for Computational and Theoretical Biology, Biocenter University of Würzburg Würzburg Germany
| | - Stephan Härtel
- Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocenter University of Würzburg Würzburg Germany
| | - Ingolf Steffan‐Dewenter
- Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocenter University of Würzburg Würzburg Germany
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11
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Honey bees increase their foraging performance and frequency of pollen trips through experience. Sci Rep 2019; 9:6778. [PMID: 31043647 PMCID: PMC6494865 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-42677-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2018] [Accepted: 04/05/2019] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Honey bee foragers must supply their colony with a balance of pollen and nectar to sustain optimal colony development. Inter-individual behavioural variability among foragers is observed in terms of activity levels and nectar vs. pollen collection, however the causes of such variation are still open questions. Here we explored the relationship between foraging activity and foraging performance in honey bees (Apis mellifera) by using an automated behaviour monitoring system to record mass on departing the hive, trip duration, presence of pollen on the hind legs and mass upon return to the hive, during the lifelong foraging career of individual bees. In our colonies, only a subset of foragers collected pollen, and no bee exclusively foraged for pollen. A minority of very active bees (19% of the foragers) performed 50% of the colony’s total foraging trips, contributing to both pollen and nectar collection. Foraging performance (amount and rate of food collection) depended on bees’ individual experience (amount of foraging trips completed). We argue that this reveals an important vulnerability for these social bees since environmental stressors that alter the activity and reduce the lifespan of foragers may prevent bees ever achieving maximal performance, thereby seriously compromising the effectiveness of the colony foraging force.
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Nürnberger F, Härtel S, Steffan-Dewenter I. Seasonal timing in honey bee colonies: phenology shifts affect honey stores and varroa infestation levels. Oecologia 2019; 189:1121-1131. [DOI: 10.1007/s00442-019-04377-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2018] [Accepted: 03/04/2019] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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I’Anson Price R, Dulex N, Vial N, Vincent C, Grüter C. Honeybees forage more successfully without the "dance language" in challenging environments. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2019; 5:eaat0450. [PMID: 30788430 PMCID: PMC6374110 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aat0450] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2018] [Accepted: 01/04/2019] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Honeybees use the waggle dance to share information about food-site locations with nestmates. However, the importance of this behavior in colony foraging success remains unclear. We tested whether spatial dance information affects colony foraging success in a human-modified temperate environment by comparing colonies with oriented and disoriented dances. Notably, colonies with disoriented dances had greater foraging success. Over time, bees exposed to disoriented dances showed reduced interest in dancing nestmates. This may explain why disoriented colonies had a higher foraging rate than oriented colonies, as bees did not waste time waiting for information. This change in information-use strategy suggests bees learn about the value of dance information. An agent-based model confirmed that, under challenging conditions, waiting for dance information reduces colony foraging success compared to foraging without social information. Our results raise the possibility that humans have created environments to which the waggle dance language is not well adapted.
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Affiliation(s)
- R. I’Anson Price
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - N. Dulex
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - N. Vial
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - C. Vincent
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - C. Grüter
- Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution, University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany
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Honey bee foraging ecology: Season but not landscape diversity shapes the amount and diversity of collected pollen. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0183716. [PMID: 28854210 PMCID: PMC5576699 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0183716] [Citation(s) in RCA: 73] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2017] [Accepted: 08/09/2017] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The availability of pollen in agricultural landscapes is essential for the successful growth and reproduction of honey bee colonies (Apis mellifera L.). The quantity and diversity of collected pollen can influence the growth and health of honey bee colonies, but little is known about the influence of landscape structure on pollen diet. In a field experiment, we rotated 16 honey bee colonies across 16 agricultural landscapes, used traps to collect samples of collected pollen and observed intra-colonial dance communication to gain information about foraging distances. DNA metabarcoding was applied to analyze mixed pollen samples. Neither the amount of collected pollen nor pollen diversity was related to landscape diversity. However, we found a strong seasonal variation in the amount and diversity of collected pollen in all sites independent of landscape diversity. The observed increase in foraging distances with decreasing landscape diversity suggests that honey bees compensated for lower landscape diversity by increasing their pollen foraging range in order to maintain pollen amount and diversity. Our results underscore the importance of a diverse pollen diet for honey bee colonies. Agri-environmental schemes aiming to support pollinators should focus on possible spatial and temporal gaps in pollen availability and diversity in agricultural landscapes.
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