NDLI: Hungry for quality—individual bumblebees forage flexibly to collect high-quality pollen

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Ruedenauer, Fabian A. Spaethe, Johannes Leonhardt, Sara D.
Copyright Year	2016
Abstract	Nutritional deficits may be one factor contributing to the ongoing decline of wild and managed bees. As a consequence, interest in understanding the effect of floral resource availability on nutritional intake - and subsequently bee health and performance - has increased. However, the proximate mechanisms underlying bee foraging choices are still poorly understood. We do, for instance, not yet know whether and how bees assess the nutritional quality of pollen or whether they use information on pollen quality to adjust foraging patterns. In a previous study, we showed that Bombus terrestris workers use their sense of taste to discriminate pollen differing in concentration and, thus, nutrient content. We now investigated whether they translate this ability into foraging behavior by observing microcolonies offered the choice between two feeders containing different pollen types and concentrations and, thus, qualities. We examined whether bumblebees used direct (chemotactile) or indirect (olfactory) cues to assess pollen quality and whether they individually assessed pollen quality or relied on larval feedback. By changing pollen quality after 21 days, we further tested whether information on pollen quality was subsequently associated with other (faster assessable) cues (e.g., odor) or continuously re-assessed. We found that bees always preferred pollen of higher quality and individually assessed quality based on chemotactile cues. Moreover, changing pollen quality resulted in rapid equivalent changes in foraging behavior, even without feedback from larvae. Consequently, individual bumblebee foragers continuously re-assess pollen quality to provide their colonies with high-quality food.The ongoing decline of wild and managed bees is likely driven by several factors with nutritional deficits being one of them. Because bees are amongst the most important pollinators, interest in understanding the effect of floral resource availability on nutritional intake and, subsequently, bee health and performance has increased. However, the proximate mechanisms underlying bee foraging choices are still poorly understood. In this study, we investigated how bumblebees differentiate between different pollen qualities by observing microcolonies offered the choice between different diets. We found that bees always preferred pollen of higher quality and individually assessed quality based on chemotactile cues. This finding increases our understanding of how social bees assess nutritional quality and make appropriate foraging choices.
Starting Page	1209
Ending Page	1217
Page Count	9
File Format	PDF
ISSN	03405443
Journal	Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
Volume Number	70
Issue Number	8
e-ISSN	14320762
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Publisher Date	2016-05-13
Publisher Place	Berlin, Heidelberg
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Bee decline Nutrients Nutrition Optimal foraging Pollen Protein Behavioral Sciences Zoology Animal Ecology
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

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4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
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