Abstract
Efficient honey production requires knowledge about the behavior of the workers and the parameters that influence the strength of the colony. In this study, the objective was to analyze the interaction between the foraging behavior of worker honeybees and pollen storage levels in Africanized honeybees colonies. Colonies with low pollen storage increased pollen intake rates, but this value was 15% lower than colonies with high pollen storage, demonstrating a direct relationship between the pollen storage levels and foraging activity. The difference in pollen intake rates varied according to the number of foraging honeybees and pollen load collected by each individual. Under both high and low pollen storage, colonies returned pollen storage to initial level within 16 days, suggesting that honeybees regulate pollen storage levels around a homeostatic set point. Relationship between pollen storage levels and colony brood production was also found, indicating how alterations in the behavior of each individual can affect the strength of the colony.
Highlights
Foraging behavior of Apis mellifera is extremely important to the colony development
Species of large honeybees require large amounts of pollen to feed their larvae and tend to leave areas with low abundance of food [2]. This is because the pollen foraging activity conducted by Apis mellifera is directly related to pollen storage and the amount of larvae in the colony [3]
Forager honeybees can be classified into two categories: scout honeybees which search for the best food resource and the reticent honeybees which wait in the beehive until the scout honeybees return and give them information about the food source by dancing [1] so that more forage honeybees are encouraged to go to the food source found
Summary
Foraging behavior of Apis mellifera is extremely important to the colony development. (2016) Regulation of Pollen Foraging Activity in Apis mellifera Africanized Honeybees Colonies. Species of large honeybees require large amounts of pollen to feed their larvae and tend to leave areas with low abundance of food [2] This is because the pollen foraging activity conducted by Apis mellifera is directly related to pollen storage and the amount of larvae in the colony [3]. There are very few studies about foraging decisions when changes occur in the colony Given these characteristics, this research was carried out to study the foraging behavior of Apis mellifera Africanized honeybees with changes in the amount of pollen stored in the colony
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