Abstract
The quality of honey bee drone semen is relevant in different contexts, ranging from colony productivity to pathology, toxicology and biodiversity preservation. Despite its importance, considerably less knowledge is available on this subject for the honey bee when compared to other domestic animal species. A proper assessment of sperm quality requires a multiple testing approach which discriminates between the different aspects of sperm integrity and functionality. Most studies on drone semen quality have only assessed a few parameters, such as sperm volume, sperm concentration and/or sperm plasma membrane integrity. Although more recent studies have focused on a broader variety of aspects of semen quality, some techniques currently used in vertebrates, such as computer-assisted sperm analysis (CASA) or multiparametric sperm quality testing, still remain to be developed in the honey bee. This may be attributed to the particular sperm morphology and physiology in this species, requiring the development of technologies specifically adapted to it. This article reviews the present knowledge of sperm quality in honey bee drones, highlighting its peculiarities and proposing future lines of research.
Highlights
Honey bees are one of the most important pollinators, playing a vital role in plant pollination of crop and wild species
It has been applied to study the effects of age [9,10,11,12], body size [13], genetics [10,12], temperature [11,14], nutrition [11], management [15,16], seasonal variations [10,17], disease [18,19], insecticides [20,21], miticides [22], semen storage in liquid and frozen states [9,23,24,25,26], semen handling [9,27,28], sperm competition [29] and physiology [30]
Unlike other domestic animal species, in which the evaluation of semen destined for insemination is a routine practice, in bees this assessment has usually been limited to research and toxicological studies, with little practical application associated to AI
Summary
Honey bees are one of the most important pollinators, playing a vital role in plant pollination of crop and wild species. Since the queen will store viable sperm after insemination for several years, the study of semen quality in this species is especially relevant. It may determine the reproductive success of the queen and, as a consequence, the colony’s survival and level of productivity [5], as well as the success of artificial insemination (AI, called instrumental insemination in this species) [6,7]. Considerably less research has been undertaken on honey bee drone semen quality than in the case of domesticated animals. This article testing approach in order to discriminate between the different aspects of sperm integrity and reviews the current knowledge of sperm quality honeyknowledge bee drones, of highlighting its peculiarities functionality. This article reviews the in current sperm quality in honey and bee proposing future lines of research. Drones, highlighting its peculiarities and proposing future lines of research
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