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opencc-zeroNov 2019View details →

Data from: Contribution of European forests to safeguard wild honey bee populations

Recent studies reveal the use of tree cavities by wild honey bee colonies in European forests. This highlights the conservation potential of forests for a highly threatened component of the native entomofauna in Europe, but currently no estimate of potential wild honey bee population sizes exists. Here, we analysed the tree cavity densities of 106 forest areas across Europe and inferred an expected population size of wild honey bees. Both forest and management types affected the density of tree cavities. Accordingly, we estimated that more than 80,000 wild honey bee colonies could be sustained in European forests. As expected, potential conservation hotspots were identified in unmanaged forests, and, surprisingly, also in other large forest areas across Europe. Our results contribute to the EU policy strategy to halt pollinator declines and reveal the potential of forest areas for the conservation of so far neglected wild honey bee populations in Europe.

Figure 7 from: Capela N, Duan X, Ziółkowska EM, Topping CJ (2024) Modelling foraging strategies of honey bees as agents in a dynamic landscape representation. Food and Ecological Systems Modelling Journal 5: e99103. https://doi.org/10.3897/fmj.5.99103

Figure 7 Results of implementing different scouting and foraging strategies on the performance of model colonies in pollen collection. Three different foraging strategies (i.e. distance, quality or random) were tested for each scouting strategy (i.e. distance, quantity and random). The total amount of collected pollen, the mean number of daily foraging flights, the number of foraging flights and their success were evaluated for all combinations of scouting and foraging strategies.

Figure 5 from: Capela N, Duan X, Ziółkowska EM, Topping CJ (2024) Modelling foraging strategies of honey bees as agents in a dynamic landscape representation. Food and Ecological Systems Modelling Journal 5: e99103. https://doi.org/10.3897/fmj.5.99103

Figure 5 Scout, recruit and foragers behaviour rules. Without private and social information, model bees become scout bees. When there is no private information because they never performed a foraging flight or because the flight was unsuccessful, model bees become recruits and will search for social information. If model bees have private information, they are considered forager bees even if no social information is available in the colony. In the presence of social information, scout and forager bees can change foraging locations (50% chance).

Figure 4 from: Capela N, Duan X, Ziółkowska EM, Topping CJ (2024) Modelling foraging strategies of honey bees as agents in a dynamic landscape representation. Food and Ecological Systems Modelling Journal 5: e99103. https://doi.org/10.3897/fmj.5.99103

Figure 4 Available foraging hours and weather variables (temperature and solar radiation) for each simulation day throughout the year. Rain and wind variables are not shown, but were used to calculate the number of available foraging hours.

Figure 3 from: Capela N, Duan X, Ziółkowska EM, Topping CJ (2024) Modelling foraging strategies of honey bees as agents in a dynamic landscape representation. Food and Ecological Systems Modelling Journal 5: e99103. https://doi.org/10.3897/fmj.5.99103

Figure 3 Example of nectar (in yellow on the left side) and pollen (in blue on the right side) spatial and temporal distribution through the season. In each snapshot, a brighter colour indicates a higher amount of the resource in the polygon. A total of 12 snapshots were taken every 30 days, starting on day 15 of the simulation.

Figure 2 from: Capela N, Duan X, Ziółkowska EM, Topping CJ (2024) Modelling foraging strategies of honey bees as agents in a dynamic landscape representation. Food and Ecological Systems Modelling Journal 5: e99103. https://doi.org/10.3897/fmj.5.99103

Figure 2 The total mass of floral resources (i.e. sugar and pollen) in the studied landscape available to bees in all the simulations. The mass of floral resources was calculated, based on the production and phenology of the individual plant species comprising the habitats present in the studied landscape and the landscape composition. Pollen availability started on simulation day 20 and nectar was available from day 39.

Figure 1 from: Capela N, Duan X, Ziółkowska EM, Topping CJ (2024) Modelling foraging strategies of honey bees as agents in a dynamic landscape representation. Food and Ecological Systems Modelling Journal 5: e99103. https://doi.org/10.3897/fmj.5.99103

Figure 1 Components in ALMaSS landscape model. The blue arrow represents the access to landscape information at a 1 m2 resolution. In this example, one element has woody habitats, while the other is an arable field. The information about each element depends on its type and the temporal factors described in the green boxes. The orange box shows some of the factors derived from the landscape element type, its management and the weather.

Figure 6 from: Capela N, Duan X, Ziółkowska EM, Topping CJ (2024) Modelling foraging strategies of honey bees as agents in a dynamic landscape representation. Food and Ecological Systems Modelling Journal 5: e99103. https://doi.org/10.3897/fmj.5.99103

Figure 6 Results of the implementation of different scouting and foraging strategies on the performance of model colonies in terms of nectar collection. For each scouting strategy (i.e. distance, quality or random), four different foraging strategies (i.e. distance, energy efficiency, quality and random) were tested. The total amount of sugar collected, the mean number of daily foraging flights and their success were evaluated for all combinations of scouting and foraging strategies.

openodc-odblOct 2024View details →

Measurements of honey bee (Apis mellifera) wings originally provided by Calfee et al. (2020)

The original data set is available at Dryad: Calfee, E., Agra, M. N., Palacio, M. A., Ramírez, S. R., & Coop, G. (2020). Apis mellifera wing images (Africanized honey bees) [Dataset]. Dryad. <a href="https://doi.org/10.25338/B8T032">https://doi.org/10.25338/B8T032 </a> It is related to publication in PLoS genetics:  Calfee, E., Agra, M. N., Palacio, M. A., Ramírez, S. R., & Coop, G. (2020). Selection and hybridization shaped the rapid spread of African honey bee ancestry in the Americas. PLoS genetics, 16(10), e1009038. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1009038">https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1009038</a> Prior to measurement, the honey bee wing images were converted from the JPG to PNG format and flipped horizontally. Subsequently, the coordinates of 19 landmarks were determined using IdentiFly software. The position of the landmarks is consistent with that described by:  Nawrocka et al. (2018): Nawrocka, A., Kandemir, İ., Fuchs, S., & Tofilski, A. (2018). Computer software for identification of honey bee subspecies and evolutionary lineages. Apidologie, 49(2), 172-184. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s13592-017-0538-y">https://doi.org/10.1007/s13592-017-0538-y</a>

opencc-zeroNov 2021View details →

Juvenile hormone pathway in honey bee larvae: a source of possible signal molecules for the reproductive behavior of Varroa destructor

The parasitic mite Varroa destructor devastates honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies around the world. Entering a brood cell shortly before capping, the Varroa mother feeds on the honey bee larvae. The hormones 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E) and juvenile hormone (JH), acquired from the host, have been considered to play a key role in initiating Varroa's reproductive cycle. This study focuses on differential expression of the genes involved in the biosynthesis of JH and ecdysone at 6 time points during the first 30 hours after cell capping in both drone and worker larvae of A. mellifera. This time frame, covering the conclusion of the honey bee brood cell invasion and the start of Varroa's ovogenesis, is critical to the successful initiation of a reproductive cycle. Our findings support a later activation of the ecdysteroid cascade in honey bee drones compared to worker larvae, which could account for the increased egg production of Varroa in A. mellifera drones. The JH pathway was generally downregulated confirming its activity is antagonistic to the ecdysteroid pathway during the larva development. Nevertheless, the genes involved in JH synthesis revealed an increased expression in drones. The upregulation of jhamt gene involved in methyl farnesoate (MF) synthesis came into attention since the MF is not only a precursor of JH but it is also an insect pheromone in its own right as well as JH-like hormone in Acari. This could indicate a possible kairomone effect of MF for attracting the mites into the drone brood cells, along with its potential involvement in ovogenesis after the cell capping, stimulating Varroa's initiation of egg laying.

opencc-zeroDec 2021View details →

Evidence of cognitive spezialization in an insect: proficiency is maintained across elemental and higher-order visual learning but not between sensory modalities in honey bees

Individuals differing in their cognitive abilities and foraging strategies may confer a valuable benefit to their social groups as variability may help responding flexibly in scenarios with different resource availability. Individual learning proficiency may either be absolute or vary with the complexity or the nature of the problem considered. Determining if learning abilities correlate between tasks of different complexity or between sensory modalities has a high interest for research on brain modularity and task-dependent specialisation of neural circuits. The honeybee Apis mellifera constitutes an attractive model to address this question due to its capacity to successfully learn a large range of tasks in various sensory domains. Here we studied whether the performance of individual bees in a simple visual discrimination task (a discrimination between two visual shapes) is stable over time and correlates with their capacity to solve either a higher-order visual task (a conceptual discrimination based on spatial relations between objects) or an elemental olfactory task (a discrimination between two odorants). We found that individual learning proficiency within a given task was maintained over time and that some individuals performed consistently better than others within the visual modality, thus showing consistent aptitude across visual tasks of different complexity. By contrast, performance in the elemental visual-learning task did not predict performance in the equivalent elemental olfactory task. Overall, our results suggest the existence of cognitive specialisation within the hive, which may contribute to ecological social success.

opencc-zeroMar 2022View details →

Introduced honey bees increase host plant abundance but decrease native bumble bee species richness and abundance

Long-term variation in the population density of introduced honey bees (Apis mellifera) has been shown to be associated with variations in floral traits in alpine lotus (Saussurea nigrescens). However, it remains to be determined whether a high density of honey bees affects the abundance of nectariferous plants and the species richness and abundance of native bumble bees. We predicted that a high density of introduced honey bees lasting three decades would decrease the species richness and abundance of native bumble bees but increase the abundance of honeybee host plant species. Here, the field experiments were conducted to examine the diversity of nectariferous plants and native bumble bees along the typical gradients of honey bee density (high density of honey bee at close apiary and low density of honey bee at distant of apiary). We investigated nectariferous plant abundance, floral and seed traits, bumble bee species richness and abundance at sites with either a high or low honey bee density in an alpine meadow. Our results demonstrated that an increased population of introduced honey bees was associated with increased host plant abundance and flower/capitula number per plant but decreased nectar volume per flower, seed mass, species richness and abundance of native bumble bees. The bumble bee visitation rate was positively correlated with nectar volume per flower at sites close to and far from apiaries. The honey bee visitation rate was positively correlated with flower/capitula number per plant at sites close to apiaries and nectar volume per flower at sites far from apiaries. Seed mass was negatively correlated with nectariferous plant abundance. Our findings showed that introduced honey bees decreased the species richness and abundance of native bumble bees, attributed to evolutionary decrease nectar resources among honey bee host plant species, but increased the abundance of nectariferous plants, attributed to the production of many small seeds by plants. This suggests that long-term high-density beekeeping affects the biodiversity of honey bee host plants and native bumble bees. Our results provide new insights into the mechanisms of maintaining the biodiversity of nectariferous plants and native bumble bees.

opencc-zeroMar 2022View details →

Database from: Managed honey bees decrease pollination limitation in self-compatible but not in self-incompatible crops

Modern agriculture is becoming increasingly pollinator-dependent. However, the global stock of domesticated honey bees is growing at a slower rate than its demand while wild bees are declining worldwide. This uneven scenario of high pollinator demand and low pollinator availability can translate into increasing pollination limitation, reducing the yield of pollinator-dependent crops. However, overall assessments of crop pollination limitation and the factors determining its magnitude are missing. We assembled the first global database of pollination limitation in pollinator-dependent crops, encompassing 107 metadata comparing the quantity/quality of fruits/seeds produced by pollen supplemented vs naturally pollinated flowers. This database, based on 52 published studies, cover 30 crops in 52 crop systems. We conducted a meta-analysis comparing crop yield in pollen-supplemented vs. open-pollinated flowers. We assessed the overall magnitude of pollination limitation and whether this magnitude was influenced by (a) the presence/absence of managed honey bees, (b) crop compatibility system (i.e., self-compatible/self-incompatible), and (c) the interaction between these two factors.

opencc-by-4.0Jul 2018View details →

Figures 8-9 from: Engel MS, Wang B, Alqarni AS, Jia L-B, Su T, Zhou Z-k, Wappler T (2018) A primitive honey bee from the Middle Miocene deposits of southeastern Yunnan, China (Hymenoptera, Apidae). ZooKeys 775: 117-129. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.775.24909

Figures 8-9 Wings of Apis (Synapis) dalica Engel and Wappler, sp. n., from Maguan County, southeastern Yunnan Province, China. 8 Details of right forewing 9 Details of left forewing.

opencc-by-4.0Jul 2018View details →

Figures 4-7 from: Engel MS, Wang B, Alqarni AS, Jia L-B, Su T, Zhou Z-k, Wappler T (2018) A primitive honey bee from the Middle Miocene deposits of southeastern Yunnan, China (Hymenoptera, Apidae). ZooKeys 775: 117-129. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.775.24909

Figures 4-7 Holotype worker of Apis (Synapis) dalica Engel and Wappler, sp. n., from Maguan County, southeastern Yunnan Province, China. 4 Entire holotype (NIGP154200) as preserved 5 Reconstruction of wing venation; forewing above, hind wing below 6 Detail of foreleg. 7 Detail of apical sterna. Abbreviations: ppl = propleuron, mcx = mesocoxa, tr = trochanter, fm = femur, tb = tibia.

opencc-by-4.0Jul 2018View details →

Figures 1-3 from: Engel MS, Wang B, Alqarni AS, Jia L-B, Su T, Zhou Z-k, Wappler T (2018) A primitive honey bee from the Middle Miocene deposits of southeastern Yunnan, China (Hymenoptera, Apidae). ZooKeys 775: 117-129. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.775.24909

Figures 1-3 Fossil locality in Maguan County, southeastern Yunnan Province, China. 1 Outcrop overview, green arrow showing layers bearing the present fossil 2 Example of preservation, Acer cf. coriaceifolia H. Lév. (Sapindaceae) preserved together with a nematoceran fly (position indicated by white arrow) 3 Schematic cross section of the studied area.

Figure 8 from: Ali H, Alqarni AS, Iqbal J, Owayss AA, Raweh HS, Smith BH (2019) Effect of season and behavioral activity on the hypopharyngeal glands of three honey bee Apis mellifera L. races under stressful climatic conditions of central Saudi Arabia. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 68: 85-101. https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.68.29678

Figure 8 - Seasonal variations in lipofuscin accumulation between summer and winter bees of the same race. Asterisks (*) in the graph represent significant differences between the groups (LSD test at p ≤ 0.05).

Figure 7 from: Ali H, Alqarni AS, Iqbal J, Owayss AA, Raweh HS, Smith BH (2019) Effect of season and behavioral activity on the hypopharyngeal glands of three honey bee Apis mellifera L. races under stressful climatic conditions of central Saudi Arabia. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 68: 85-101. https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.68.29678

Figure 7 - Inter-race comparison of lipofuscin accumulation A summer bees B winter bees. Graph bars headed by the same letter represent non-significant differences between the groups (LSD test at p ≤ 0.05).

Figure 6 from: Ali H, Alqarni AS, Iqbal J, Owayss AA, Raweh HS, Smith BH (2019) Effect of season and behavioral activity on the hypopharyngeal glands of three honey bee Apis mellifera L. races under stressful climatic conditions of central Saudi Arabia. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 68: 85-101. https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.68.29678

Figure 6 - Comparisons between nurse and forager bees in the accumulation of lipofuscin in hypopharyngeal glands. A summer bees B winter bees. Asterisks (*) in the graph represent significant differences between the groups (LSD test at p ≤ 0.05).

Figure 5 from: Ali H, Alqarni AS, Iqbal J, Owayss AA, Raweh HS, Smith BH (2019) Effect of season and behavioral activity on the hypopharyngeal glands of three honey bee Apis mellifera L. races under stressful climatic conditions of central Saudi Arabia. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 68: 85-101. https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.68.29678

Figure 5 - Lipofuscin accumulation (black granular structures: arrows) in the hypopharyngeal glands of nurse and forager bees A A. m. carnica nurse B A. m. carnica forager C A. m. jemenitica nurse D A. m. jemenitica forager E A. m. ligustica nurse F A. m. ligustica forager. (Images at 400× magnification).