Bee Activity Research Articles

The conflict between avian predators and domestic honey bees: a case study of European bee-eater (Merops apiaster L.) preying on the honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) in Cyprus

Bee-eaters are protected birds due to their contribution to the ecosystem, but at the same time, they inflict damages on bees which cause conflicts with beekeepers. This research aimed to study the impact of bee-eaters on the foraging activity of the honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) and the effectiveness of the applied control measures, proposing a solution for the coexistence of birds and bees. We discouraged bee-eaters by using different methods and testing their efficacy. The presence of bee-eaters around the apiary caused the reduction of honey bee foraging activity along with effects on brood rearing and temperature regulation of the hive. The so-far proposed measures to prevent bee-eaters' attacks in the apiaries were tested and found to have limited effect. Considering the role of honey bees in pollination and bee-eaters in the insect-bird food chains, we propose a harmonious coexistence of bees and birds. This strategy has been adopted by the beekeepers of Cyprus, who were committed to pursuing methods of limited protection of bees from the predatory birds, ensuring the survival of both components.

Patterns of Tetragonula Laeviceps (Smith) colony activity in KHDTK Gunung Bromo UNS

Due to climate change, many impacts occur on the sustainability of organisms, including the trigona bee. The occurrence of climate change not only affects decreasing honey production but also reduces the number of colonies. Presume that it can change the activity pattern of the trigona bee. This study aims to determine the pattern of activity demonstrated by Tetragonula laeviceps (Smith) colony in KHDTK Gunung Bromo UNS. This research was conducted in July 2021 at KHDTK Gunung Bromo UNS. The observation involved 128 colony boxes placed into four cages, namely cages A, B, C, and D. Observations on the activity of trigona bees starting from 06.00 WIB to 18.00 WIB, assuming trigona bee activity begins in the morning and end the activity outside the hive after sunset. The results showed that of the cages A, B, C, and D, the worker bees tend to be active in the morning (6-10 am) to collect nectars and resin. Before noon (10 to 12 noon), bee activities were decreasing. The activity of the worker bees increased between 12 to 2 pm and decreased again after that time slot. The food source most favored by trigona bees: Pinus merkusii (rp), Artocarpus heterophyllus (r), Spathiphyllum wallisii (np), and Xanthostemon chrysanthus (np). Resin extractions are very needed for bees as batumen materials, and this is due to natural enemies (lizards, ants, vespa wasps, and spiders) that appear around the cage.

Impact of Neonicotinoid Insecticides on the Foraging Preference of Indian Honey Bee, Apis cerana indica (Fab.) (Hymenoptera, Apidae) Visiting Sunflower Helianthus annus L. Crop

Aim: Forage preference of Indian honey bee on neonicotinoid insecticides treated sunflower
 Study Design: Randomized Block Design (RBD)
 Place and Duration of Study: Insectary, Department of Agricultural Entomology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore between August 2021 to December 2021 during the Adipattam season
 Methodology: Bee activity was recorded by in situ counting method. Seven treatments with three replications (5flowers/replication) in Randomized Block Design were followed. Different treatments viz., Imidacloprid 17.8 SL @ 280µl/l, Clothianidin 50 WDG @ 80µg/l, Thiamethoxam 25 WG @ 250µg/l, Thiacloprid 21.7 SC @ 1100/µl, Dimethoate 30 EC @ 1400µl/l (chemical check), Water control (Water spray) and Absolute control (no spray) were given at 50% flowering period using Knapsack sprayer. The number of bees visiting 5 flowers per 5 minutes was observed during morning (09.00-11.00), afternoon (13.00-15.00) and evening (16.00-18.00) hours of the day for seven days after spray (DAS). DAS. Statistical Analysis Software (SAS) academics was used to statistically analyse the data.
 Results: The mean population of Apis cerana indica Fab. was more in absolute control (5.97) followed by water control (4.77), imidacloprid (4.10), clothianidin (3.40), thiacloprid (3.21), thiamethoxam (3.14) and dimethoate (1.90) during morning hours (09.00-11.00) of the day. The mean bee visitation rate was high in control (3.40), followed by water control (2.65), imidacloprid (1.77), clothianidin (1.52), thiacloprid (1.55), thiamethoxam (1.40) and dimethoate (1.17) during afternoon hours (13.00-15.00) of the day. In the evening hours (16.00-18.00), mean bee activity was high in control (4.95) followed by water control (4.27), imidacloprid (3.40), clothianidin (3.13), thiamethoxam (2.75), thiacloprid (2.53) and dimethoate (1.88). Among these different hours, morning forage activity of the bees are high in morning hours of the day followed by evening and very less in afternoon hours.
 Conclusion: The present study revealed that Indian honey bees preferred to forage both on neonicotinoid treated, however at a reduced rate, and untreated flowers. Since, neonicotinoids are odourless, tasteless compounds that increase the risk of pesticide exposure for the bee colony owing to less capability for segregation of insecticide treated surfaces.

IoT Monitoring and Prediction Modeling of Honeybee Activity with Alarm

A significant number of recent scientific papers have raised awareness of changes in the biological world of bees, problems with their extinction, and, as a consequence, their impact on humans and the environment. This work relies on precision beekeeping in apiculture and raises the scale of measurement and prediction results using the system we developed, which was designed to cover beehive ecosystem. It is equipped with an IoT modular base station that collects a wide range of parameters from sensors on the hive and a bee counter at the hive entrance. Data are sent to the cloud for storage, analysis, and alarm generation. A time-series forecasting model capable of estimating the volume of bee exits and entrances per hour, which simulates dependence between environmental conditions and bee activity, was devised. The applied mathematical models based on recurrent neural networks exhibited high accuracy. A web application for monitoring and prediction displays parameters, measured values, and predictive and analytical alarms in real time. The predictive component utilizes artificial intelligence by applying advanced analytical methods to find correlation between sensor data and the behavioral patterns of bees, and to raise alarms should it detect deviations. The analytical component raises an alarm when it detects measured values that lie outside of the predetermined safety limits. Comparisons of the experimental data with the model showed that our model represents the observed processes well.

Neighborhood effects and honey bee foraging behavior

Insect pollinators frequently forage with conspecifics in nature, thus it is important to understand their behavioral responses to the presence of conspecifics on flowers. Plant-pollinator interactions can be influenced by neighboring flowers, and these neighborhood effects can have important implications for plant fitness. Research about neighborhood effects generally tests how plant traits or different plant communities affect plant-pollinator or plant-herbivore interactions. However, neighborhood effects can also be considered from the point of view of an insect pollinator and how the presence of their own conspecifics on plants alters their perceptions of plant quality. We used the Western honey bee, Apis mellifera, to test whether neighborhood effects affect honey bee foraging behavior. In this context, we refer to neighborhood effects as the relative number of bees on neighboring flowers compared to the number of bees on a focal flower. We found that in a floral neighborhood, the relative number of honey bees present on neighboring flowers has a weak effect, such that more bees on neighboring flowers increase the likelihood of visits to a focal flower. Our results suggest that high numbers of bees on neighboring flowers increase the attractiveness of the entire neighborhood and low numbers of bees on the neighboring flowers decrease the attractiveness of the neighborhood, highlighting that bee activity on neighboring flowers may have significant impacts on pollination services.

Presence of Known and Emerging Honey Bee Pathogens in Apiaries of Veneto Region (Northeast of Italy) during Spring 2020 and 2021

A progressive honey bee population decline has been reported worldwide during the last decades, and it could be attributed to several causes, in particular to the presence of pathogens and parasites that can act individually or in synergy. The health status of nine apiaries located in different areas of the Veneto region (northeast of Italy) was assessed for two consecutive years (2020 and 2021) in spring, during the resumption of honey bee activity, for determining the presence of known (Nosema spp., Varroa mite and viruses) and less known or emerging pathogens (Lotmaria passim and Crithidia mellificae) in honey bees. After honey bees sampling from each of the nine apiaries, Nosema apis, Nosema ceranae, L. passim, C. mellificae, ABPV, CBPV, IAPV, KBV, BQCV, SBV, DWV-A, DWV-B and V. destructor were investigated either by microscopic observation or PCR protocols. The viruses BQCV, SBV, CBPV followed by N. ceranae and L. passim were the most prevalent pathogens, and many of the investigated hives, despite asymptomatic, had different degrees of co-infection. This study aimed to highlight, during the resumption of honey bee activity in spring, the prevalence and spreading in the regional territory of different honey bee pathogens, which could alone or synergistically alter the homeostasis of bees colonies. The information gathered would increase our knowledge about the presence of these microorganisms and parasites in the territory and could contribute to improve beekeepers practice.

The short neuropeptide F (sNPF) promotes the formation of appetitive visual memories in honey bees.

Motivation can critically influence learning and memory. Multiple neural mechanisms regulate motivational states, among which signalling via specific neuropeptides, such as NPY in vertebrates and NPF and its short variant sNPF in invertebrates, plays an essential role. The honey bee (Apis mellifera) is a privileged model for the study of appetitive learning and memory. Bees learn and memorize sensory cues associated with nectar reward while foraging, and their learning is affected by their feeding state. However, the neural underpinnings of their motivational states remain poorly known. Here we focused on the short neuropeptide F (sNPF) and studied if it modulates the acquisition and formation of colour memories. Artificially increasing sNPF levels in partially fed foragers with a reduced motivation to learn colours resulted in significant colour learning and memory above the levels exhibited by starved foragers. Our results thus identify sNPF as a critical component of motivational processes involved in foraging and in the cognitive processes associated with this activity in honey bees.

Research on the orientation flights and colony development of Apis cerana based on smart beehives

• Orientation flight activities are related to the development trend of bee colonies. • When the YBR is low and the fluctuation is stable, the bee colony tends to have a better development trend. • Directional flight activities also be short-term colony development. • The changes of bee colonies under different temperatures and periods confirm the regularity of YBR. • When YBR is 0.2, it may be the key point of the change in the development trend of the bee colony. Pollinations as a result of bees collecting pollen from flowers are vital for maintaining the subtle balance of the earth's ecological system. However, apiculture is facing a crisis owing to collapsing honey bee colonies, yet the reasons are still unclear. As young bees are the future backbone of a colony, their behaviors could reveal the development of the colony and the problems causing colony collapse. In this study, we used Internet of Things technology to monitor the data of eight colonies of Apis cerana continuously over three years. We obtained more than 10,000 h of monitoring data to analyze the relationship between the orientation flight activities of young bees and changes in honeycomb weight, time, and local ambient temperature. The results indicated that the young bee ratio was closely associated with the trend in colony development. When the ratio of young bees participating in the orientation flight was low and stable, the colony size was likely to be maintained; in contrast, when the ratio was high and fluctuating considerably, the bee colony tended to decline. This finding can be used to predict the development trend of bee colonies and explore further quantitative factors that trigger abnormal colony losses.

Influence of some abiotic factors on the flight activity of stingless bees (Hymenoptera: Meliponini) in Southern Brazil

Stingless bees are essential for the pollination of cultivated and native plant species. Anthropogenic activities in natural ecosystems trigger changes in the microclimate, impacting the flight activity of bees. Here, we examine the effects of some abiotic factors on the flight activity of some stingless bees. We installed four colonies of each species (Plebeia droryana, Scaptotrigona bipunctata and Melipona quadrisfasciata) in three distinct areas (predominantly urbanized area, mosaic of pastures with agricultural cultivation and mosaic of natural vegetation with fragmented landscapes) represented by different uses and land cover (L.U.L.C.). All observations were in the morning during three time slots. For each area, we recorded daily abiotic factors and measured the flight activity of bees entering and leaving the colony. P. droryana and S. bipunctata had similar flight activities, with less activity in anthropized areas. M. quadrifasciata showed the lowest activity among species in the three areas. The flight activity of S. bipunctata showed significant differences. Abiotic factors had significant differences between areas, light intensity had the greatest influence on flight activity among the three species. Our study indicates that stingless bees exhibit a pattern of behavior. However, the abiotic characteristics of a given ecosystem can affect the flight activity of each species based on its normative behavior. This is the first study to evaluate abiotic effects on the flight activity of P. droryana, S. bipunctata and M. quadrifasciata in southern Brazil. The results obtained here can contribute to the establishment of a conservation plan for stingless bee species and prevent future extinctions in a scenario of environmental changes.

Seasonal dynamics of competition between honey bees and wild bees in a protected Mediterranean scrubland

Due to the widespread use of pesticides and the lack of floral resources in many agricultural landscapes, beekeepers have moved numerous honey bee colonies in protected areas which could shelter an important diversity of wild bees. Here, we investigated the seasonal dynamics of the competition between honey bees and wild bees through a two‐year study of plant–bee networks in a Mediterranean protected area. We recorded the visitation rates of four bee groups: honey bees, small wild bees, large wild bees and bumblebees. Our study reveals that the competition for floral resources induced by honey bees is especially strong during the early spring and then decreases along the season for all groups of wild bees. We observed a competitive exclusion of all groups of wild bees illustrated by an avoidance of well‐flowered plant species in presence of honey bees. As a consequence, we detected a rewiring of large and small bee floral preferences linked to the presence of honey bees. In presence of honey bees, Rosmarinus officinalis and Cistus albidus were significantly less visited by large bees. This study underlines the need to mitigate the establishment of numerous honey bee colonies in protected areas as honey bees could strongly affect the foraging activity of wild bees.

Influence of Bee Scent and other indigenous bee attractants on bee activity and fruiting behaviour of kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa A. Chev.)

Kiwifruit is a dioecious plant requiring cross pollination. The nectar in kiwifruit flowers is negligible which makes it less attractive to honey bees. Hand pollination is a common practice for effective pollination but this practice is inevitable, laborious and time consuming. Spraying of bee attractants during the periods of anthesis can be helpful in increasing the bee visitation to the flowers and improve yield as well as quality of kiwifruits. Keeping in view the possible beneficial effects of bee attractants, an experiment was carried out during 2018–19 to compare the practice of hand pollination with the application of commercial bee attractant ‘Bee Scent’ (1.25%) and indigenous bee attractants like jaggery solution (10%), sugar solution (10%), honey solution (10%) and sugarcane juice (10%) for their effects on bee activity, fruit set and fruit quality of kiwifruit. The sprays of Bee Scent to the flowers resulted in significant improvement in bee visitation to the flowers, fruit set, yield, proportion of ‘A’ and ‘B’ grade fruits, fruit size & weight, number of seeds, TSS, sugars and ascorbic acid contents. Sugarcane juice was also found equally effective in improving bee activity, fruit set and fruit quality, thus shown the potential to be used as a bee attractant in commercial kiwifruit production system.

Impact of Neonicotinoid Insecticides on the Foraging Activity of Indian Honey Bee, Apiscerana indica (Fab.) in the Cotton Ecosystem

Indian honey bees are the important managed pollinators of several agricultural and horticultural crops in India. At present, bee colony decline is the biggest crisis amongbeekeepers. The use of neonicotinoid insecticides is considered the prime factor, and they were found to cause a direct impact on bees by mortality and indirectly impair the foraging behavior of bees. Hence, the study aimed to assess the impact of neonicotinoids on the foraging activity of Indian honey bees. The neonicotinoids viz., imidacloprid 17.8 SL, clothianidin 50 WDG, thiamethoxam 25 WG, and thiacloprid 21.7 SC, along with organophosphate dimethoate 30 EC (chemical check) and control (no spray) were sprayed at field recommended doses on cotton crop. Foraging activity of the bees,viz.,incoming foragers with nectar and pollen load and outgoing foragers were counted at the hive entrance during the morning (09.00-11.00), afternoon (13.00-15.00), and evening (16.00-18.00) hours of the day. The data were recorded at pre-treatment count and posttreatment count on different day intervals viz., 1DAS, 3DAS, 7DAS, and 15DAS. The mean number of incoming nectar, pollen foragers, and outgoing foragers were recorded to be maximum in control than neonicotinoid-treated plots. Hence, the reduction in foraging activity may lead to areduction in the food storage area and brood area ultimately lesseningthe overall colony growth. It’s always better to avoid spraying cotton crop during the flowering period using neonicotinoids to dodge the residues even though cotton is not a food crop; meanwhile, it will safeguard the pollinators.

TECHNOLOGY OF KEEPING BEE WITH THE PURPOSE OF INCREASING ACTIVITY AND HYGIENIC BEHAVIOR

The study examined the technology of keeping bees in order to increase the activity of hygienic behavior as a factor of natural resistance. The aim of the work was to study the activity of hygienic behavior by determining differences in bees of different breeds, zoned on the territory of Ukraine, in different families of the same breed in different apiaries, healthy and with signs of infectious diseases, as well as studying the specificity of the behavior of adult bees in cleaning the body from parasites (mites Varroa) and recognition and removal of infectioned pupae from brood cells. There was presented the correlation of the activity of hygienic behavior on the breed characteristics and strength of the bee colony. It was determined that the Ukrainian steppe breed of bees had a demonstrative activity of hygienic behavior and was more resistant to infection by ectoparasites and pathogens compared to the Carpathian breed. The difference in the duration of complete cleaning of the cells in bee colonies of the Ukrainian steppe and Carpathian breeds was 4±1 hours on average. There was explored the study of the hygienic behavior of honey bees before the recognition and removal of infectioned pupae from the sealed working brood within the same breed. Bee activity lasted for 6 days, the intensity was maximum in the first three days: on average, 64,5% of damaged pupae were removed. However, the reactions of bees were nonspecific in relation to the parasite. After 6 days no significant differences were found between mechanically damaged cells (47,7%) and cells infectioned by the Varroa mite (48.3%). The activity of bees was manifested during six days, the intensity of grooming and hygienic behavior was maximum during the first three days: on average, 77,4% of Varroa females were thrown from the bees' bodies and 64.5% of damaged pupae were removed from the cells. However, the reactions of the bees were not specific to the parasite, the corresponding cleaning movements were performed by the bees in the control experiments as well.

INSECTICIDAL EXPOSURES MODULATES THE BENEFICIAL INSECT'S BIODIVERSITY IN AGROECOSYSTEM

Beneficial insects have inevitable contributions for pollination and natural pest control in agriculture. But farmers are struggling to boost up the crop production with chemical application in controlling insect pests enormously without knowing the ultimate consequences. Asia covers 59% of the world’s total insecticide usage. Insecticidal exposures share different modes of action with parasitoids and predators. They affect the survival of insects, reduce the capacity of reproduction, change insect behavior, alter the host’s availability for parasitism or predation, and sometimes cause direct death. Among the different pesticides, clothianidin and pyridaben recorded in decreasing 86.44% and 83.54% of the honeybee population (86.44 and 83.54%) indicating their toxicity to the bee pollinators reduction. Dimethoate causes the total mortality of aphid parasitoid Aphidius ervi. while Azadirachtin showed 40.43% emergence rate at the dose of LC25 for both the male and female insects, and pyrethrum insecticides have sublethal effects on the lifespan of Chelonus oculator. The nicotinoids, pyrethroid, and organophosphorus groups have a residual impact on the nectar and pollen biology. Residues of imidacloprid @ 19.7μg/kg found in pollen and 6.0μg/kg in honey those potentially affecting on the bee activity. Moreover, sulfoxaflor exposure has extensive sub-lethal effects on wasps, especially available as beneficial insect in the crop fields. This study findings revealed the necessities for future research on the harmful effects of synthetic and natural insecticides on the beneficial insects. Furthermore, it has been suggested that Integrated pest management (IPM) that involves sustainable ecosystem-based pest management techniques Might be an effective and efficient alternative of the insecticides for conserving the beneficial insects in the agroecosystem for the betterment of our future generations.

Recent Progress of Stingless Bee Honey

Stingless bees are kinds of pollinating insects with important ecological and economic values, belonging to the Tribe Meliponini of the Family Apidae. Similar to honeybees, stingless bees collect nectar from the nectary of flowering plants, and such sweet substance stored in the hives is so-called stingless bee honey. Compared to ordinary honeybee honey, stingless bee honey has a stronger aroma, showing the characteristics with high moisture content, high acidity, low sugar content, and slow crystallization. In addition, it has a unique taste with beneficial medicinal values. Therefore, recent years stingless bee honey studies have become a hot spot in the international bee products research area. The distribution area of stingless bees in China is quite limited, and only distributed in tropical and subtropical regions like Yunnan, Hainan, Guangxi, Tibet and Taiwan Provinces. As a result, there are relatively few studies on stingless bee honey in China. This article reviews the recent advance of researches of stingless bee honey from our group as well as studies across the world. The physical and chemical indexes and pharmacological activities of the stingless bees are also been summarized. We aim to provide reference for further researches of stingless bee honey in China relating the quality standard, nutritional quality and function evaluation studies.

IVAN OLEKSIYOVYCH LEVCHENKO. MAN AND HER AFFAIRS

Introduction. One of the ways in which bee colonies interact is through stereotypical dances. Many authors have studied the relationship between dance. However, there was no consensus on their functional significance. Finding out the question of the signal significance of bee dances became the main direction of Ivan Levchenko’s scientific research. In addition to theoretical significance, such studies are needed to develop new methods for controlling the flight-collecting activity of bees. The goal of the work. To trace the main stages of IO Levchenko's life and creative path. To give the main achievements of his research, to characterize their theoretical and practical significance for beekeeping. Materials and methods of research. The basis of this study is the scientific literature on the topic of work, scientific works of domestic and foreign scientists. In the process of research, historical-comparative, analytical-synthetic, as well as the method of source analysis are used. Results of research and discussion. Ivan Levchenko was born on August 31, 1930 in the village of Samara, Azov district, Rostov region, in a large family of workers. The formation of Ivan Lavchenko as a researcher took place at the Kyiv State University named after T.G. Shevchenko (1951‒1956). After graduating from university he worked in the laboratory of arachnoentomology, in the Kaniv Biological Reserve. This was the period of further development of the researcher. During this time, techniques have been developed that make it possible to record the reaction of bees to various processes occurring in the central nervous system of insects. A fruitful period in the scientific activity of Ivan Levchenko were the years of work at the Institute of Zoology named after I. Schmalhausen National Academy of Sciences (1962-1994). Here, in 1966, he defended his dissertation on "The main forms of relationship in bees - collectors." Considering bees' dances as a special form of reflecting the excitation of the bee's nervous system, Ivan Levchenko naturally raised and successfully solved the question of the impact on bee signaling of such factors as air temperature, features of the terrain, bee strength, sugar concentration in nectar, carbohydrate characteristics feed composition. Ivan Levchenko considered the discovery of individual smell in worker bees to be an important factor in his scientific work. Since 1994, I. Levchenko worked at the NSC "Institute of Beekeeping named after P.I. Prokopovich "in the established laboratory of bee ethology. The direction of research has changed, but has always been associated with practical beekeeping. І. Levchenko conducted active training of junior specialists in the field of beekeeping. Under his supervision, six PhD theses were defended. Published 300 scientific papers. Conclusions and prospects for further research. Ivan Levchenko proved by his research that the transmission of information about the coordinates of the source of the bribe in the family of the honey bee is carried out by many factors - smell, acoustic and tactile stimuli, including dancing. An attempt to explain the process of mobilizing bees to collect food with just one stimulus is invalid. We can talk about the relative importance of a factor in a particular situation, but the effect of mobilization in general must be considered as an adequate response of the family to a set of stimuli. Honey bees have undergone a long process of evolution from a solitary form to a highly organized and family with a social - collective way of life. Ways of relations in them include both ancient forms (sight and smell) and new, highly specialized moving reactions - dances of scouts. Accordingly, the search for honey flow by bees can be carried out both at the level of individuals and the family as a whole. But there is no doubt that all forms of search are of great biological importance to the family and together provide rapid mobilization for food collection.

Comparison of Feature Extraction Methods for Sound-Based Classification of Honey Bee Activity

Honey bees are one of the most important insects on the planet since they play a key role in the pollination services of both cultivated and spontaneous flora. Recent years have seen an increase in bee mortality which points out the necessity of intensive beehive monitoring in order to better understand this phenomenon and try to help these important insects. In this scenario, this work presents an algorithm for sound-based classification of honey bee activity reporting a preliminary comparison between various extracted features used separately as input to a convolutional neural network classifier. In particular, the orphaned colony situation has been considered using a dataset acquired in a real situation. Different experiments with different setups have been carried out in order to test the performance of the proposed system, and the results have confirmed its potentiality.

Where Is the Honey Bee Queen Flying? The Original Case of a Foraging Queen.

Simple SummaryReproduction is the only task normally attributed to the queen due to its specific morpho-functional characteristics, while foraging activities are exclusively carried out by workers bees in the honey bee colony. For example, the queen’s proboscis is shorter than that of workers and, therefore, less suitable for exploring the inside of flowers to collect nectar. Olfactory and visual detection is also less developed in the queen than in workers, and it is well known how important these stimuli are in order to search for appropriate flowers and find the food source within the flower. In the countryside of northern Sardinia, a honey bee queen (Apis mellifera L.) was detected for the first time while foraging on a flower (a borage flower), most likely during an orientation flight before mating. The open, shallow corolla, and the excellent nectar secretion of the borage flower might have facilitated the queen bee activity. This new queen behaviour was based on the morphological traits of the specimen collected and photos taken in that moment. The observed foraging activity opens new and yet unexplored perspectives on the behaviour of queen bees outside the nest (or the hive), which could occasionally include tasks usually attributed only to workers.During a bee fauna survey in the countryside of northern Sardinia, a honey bee queen (Apis mellifera L.) was detected while foraging on a borage (Borago officinalis L.) flower in Uri, Province of Sassari, Italy, most likely during an orientation flight before mating. Morphological details, detectable from photos with the naked eye and stereomicroscopic observations, confirmed that the honey bee queen was sucking nectar from a flower. The enormous development of the abdomen, lack of pollen-collecting structures in the legs and other characteristics such as the typical distally bilobed shape of the mandibles, with long hairs on their outer surface, proved the structural differences between the queen specimen and the other castes of bees. The queen’s proboscis, which is shorter compared to the workers, may have been counterbalanced by the shape and nectar production of the borage flower. This new observation proves that the queen can feed herself under natural conditions, likely to obtain the energy required for flying. Although we cannot exclude disturbing factors that could explain this foraging behaviour of a queen observed for the first time, this note opens a new scenario and discusses this new finding in the context of the available literature on the queen’s behaviour and questions to be answered.

Raised seasonal temperatures reinforce autumn Varroa destructor infestation in honey bee colonies

Varroa destructor is the main pest of the honey bee Apis mellifera, causing colony losses. We investigated the effect of temperature on the autumn abundance of V. destructor in bee colonies over 1991–2020 in Central Europe. We tested the hypothesis that temperature can affect autumn mite populations with different time-lags modulating the bee abundance and brood availability. We showed that raised spring (March–May) and autumn (October) temperatures reinforce autumn V. destructor infestation in the bee colonies. The critical temperature signals embrace periods of bee activity, i.e., just after the first cleansing flights and just before the last observed bee flights, but no direct effects of phenological changes on V. destructor abundance were found. These effects were potentially associated with increased bee reproduction in the specific periods of the year and not with the extended period of activity or accelerated spring onset. We found significant effects of autumn bee abundance, autumn capped brood abundance, and the number of colonies merged on autumn mite infestation. We also observed differences in V. destructor abundance between bees derived from different subspecies. We indicated that climatic effects, through influence on the bee abundance and brood availability, are one of the main drivers regulating V. destructor abundance.

Bee year: Basic physiological strategies to cope with seasonality

Worker honey bees are subject to biochemical and physiological changes throughout the year. This study aimed to provide the reasons behind these fluctuations. The markers analysed included lipid, carbohydrate, and protein levels in the haemolymph; the activity of digestive enzymes in the midgut; the levels of adipokinetic hormone (AKH) in the bee central nervous system; the levels of vitellogenins in the bee venom and haemolymph; and the levels of melittin in the venom. The levels of all the main nutrients in the haemolymph peaked mostly within the period of maximal bee activity, whereas the activity of digestive enzymes mostly showed a two-peak course. Furthermore, the levels of AKHs fluctuated throughout the year, with modest but significant variations. These data suggest that the role of AKHs in bee energy metabolism is somewhat limited, and that bees rely more on available food and less on body deposits. Interestingly, the non-metabolic characteristics also fluctuated over the year. The vitellogenin peak reached its maximum in the haemolymph in winter, which is probably associated with the immunoprotection of long-lived winter bees. The analysis of bee venom showed the maximal levels of vitellogenin in autumn; however, it is not entirely clear why this is the case. Finally, melittin levels showed strong fluctuations, suggesting that seasonal control was unlikely.