scholarly journals Characterizing the floral resources of a North American metropolis using a honey bee foraging assay

Ecosphere ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas B. Sponsler ◽  
Don Shump ◽  
Rodney T. Richardson ◽  
Christina M. Grozinger
Keyword(s):  
Honey Bee ◽  
North American ◽  
Floral Resources ◽  
Bee Foraging ◽  
Honey Bee Foraging

scholarly journals Characterizing the floral resources of a North American metropolis using a honey bee foraging assay

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas B. Sponsler ◽  
Don Shump ◽  
Rodney T. Richardson ◽  
Christina M. Grozinger
Keyword(s):  
Honey Bee ◽  
Urban Ecosystem ◽  
Landscape Scale ◽  
Taxonomic Composition ◽  
Floral Resources ◽  
Urban Landscapes ◽  
Woody Vines ◽  
Bee Foraging ◽  
Honey Bee Foraging ◽  
Floral Resource

AbstractRoughly a third of described insect species visit flowers, making the flower-insect interface one of the chief pillars of global biodiversity. Studying flower-insect relationships at the scale of communities and landscapes has been hindered, however, by the methodological challenges of quantifying landscape-scale floral resources. This challenge is especially acute in urban landscapes, where traditional floral surveying techniques are ill-suited to the unique constraints of built environments. To surmount these challenges, we devised a “honey bee foraging assay” approach to floral resource surveying, wherein continuous colony weight tracking and DNA metabarcoding of pollen samples are used to capture both the overall availability and taxonomic composition of floral resources. We deploy this methodology in the complex urban ecosystem of Philadelphia, PA, U.S. Our results reveal distinct seasonality of floral resource availability, with pulses of high availability in May, June, and September, and a period of prolonged scarcity in August. Pollen genus richness mirrored this pattern, with peak richness in May and June. The taxonomic composition of pollen samples varied seasonally, reflecting underlying floral phenology, with especially strong turnover between May and June samples and between August and September samples delineating well-defined spring, summer, and fall floral resource communities. Trait analysis also revealed marked seasonal structure, with spring samples characterized by trees and shrubs, summer samples including a stronger presence of herbaceous “weeds”, and fall samples dominated by woody vines. Native flora predominated in spring, giving way to a preponderance of exotic flora in summer and fall. Our study provides a detailed portrait of floral resources in a complex urban environment. At a basic level, this yields insight into the assembly of novel urban floral resource communities, showcasing, for example, the emergence of a woody-vine-dominated fall flora. At an applied level, our data can inform urban land management, such as the design of ecologically functional ornamental plantings, while also providing practical guidance to beekeepers seeking to adapt their management activities to floral resource seasonality. Methodologically, our study demonstrates the potential of the honey bee foraging assay as an efficient and standardizable technique for landscape-scale floral resource surveying.

Honey bee foraging profitability and round dance correlates

1982 ◽  
Vol 148 (3) ◽  
pp. 297-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keith D. Waddington
Keyword(s):  
Honey Bee ◽  
Bee Foraging ◽  
Honey Bee Foraging ◽  
Round Dance

scholarly journals Influence of visual targets and landmarks on honey bee foraging and waggle dancing

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 349-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bahram Kheradmand ◽  
Julian Cassano ◽  
Selena Gray ◽  
James C. Nieh
Keyword(s):  
Honey Bee ◽  
Bee Foraging ◽  
Honey Bee Foraging ◽  
Visual Targets ◽  
Waggle Dancing

The Role of Learning in Honey Bee Foraging

1987 ◽  
pp. 479-496 ◽  
Author(s):  
James L. Gould
Keyword(s):  
Honey Bee ◽  
Bee Foraging ◽  
Honey Bee Foraging

scholarly journals A method to study honeybee foraging regulatory molecules at different times during foraging

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asem Surindro Singh ◽  
Machathoibi Chanu Takhellambam
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Learning And Memory ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Immediate Early ◽  
Sample Collection ◽  
Time Space ◽  
Behavioral Studies ◽  
Bee Foraging ◽  
Honey Bee Foraging

The foraging of honey bees is one of the most well organized and admirable behaviors that exist among social insects. In behavioral studies, these beautiful insects have been extensively used for understanding time-space learning, landmark use and concept of learning etc. Highly organized behaviors such as social interaction and communication are systematically well organized behavioral components of honeybee foraging. Over the last two decades, understanding the regulatory mechanisms underlying honey bee foraging at the cellular and molecular levels has been increasingly interested to several researchers. Upon the search of regulatory genes of brain and behavior, immediate early (IE) genes are considered as tool to begin the investigation. Our two recent studies, have demonstrated three IE genes namely Egr-1, Hr38 and kakusei having a role in the daily foraging of bees and their association with learning and memory during the foraging. These studies further evidence that IE genes can be used as a tool in finding the specific molecular/cellular players of foraging in honey bees and its behavioral components such as learning, memory, social interaction, social communication etc. In this article we provide the details of the method of sample collection at different times during foraging to investigate the foraging regulatory molecules. Key words: Honey bee foraging, learning and memory, immediate early genes, Egr-1, Hr38, Kakusei.

scholarly journals A Method to Study Honey Bee Foraging Regulatory Molecules at Different Times During Foraging

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asem Surindro Singh ◽  
Machathoibi Chanu Takhellambam
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Sample Collection ◽  
Good Tool ◽  
Time Space ◽  
Behavioral Studies ◽  
Bee Foraging ◽  
Honey Bee Foraging ◽  
Brain And Behavior

The foraging of honey bees is one of the most well-organized and admirable behaviors that exist among social insects. In behavioral studies, these beautiful insects have been extensively used for understanding time–space learning, landmark use, and the concept of learning. Highly organized behaviors such as social interaction and communication are systematically well-organized behavioral components of honey bee foraging. Over the last two decades, understanding the regulatory mechanisms underlying honey bee foraging at the cellular and molecular levels has been increasingly interested to several researchers. Upon the search of regulatory genes of brain and behavior, immediate early (IE) genes are considered as a good tool to begin the search investigation. Our two recent studies have demonstrated three IE genes, namely, Egr-1, Hr38, and Kakusei, playing a role in the daily foraging of bees and their association with learning and memory during foraging. These studies further evidence that IE genes can be used as a tool in finding the specific molecular/cellular players of foraging in honey bees and its behavioral components such as learning, memory, social interaction, and social communication. In this article, we provide the details of the method of sample collection at different times during foraging to investigate the foraging regulatory molecules.

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