Behavior Of Honey Bees Research Articles

Synthetic and natural acaricides impair hygienic and foraging behaviors of honey bees

Acaricides commonly used to control the honey bee parasitic mite, Varroa destructor, may also adversely affect bees. Sublethal LD05 doses of synthetic (tau-fluvalinate, amitraz, and coumaphos) and natural (thymol and formic acid) acaricides did not significantly reduce bee survivorship. However, compared to the ethanol solvent control, hygienic behavior critical for pathogen and parasite control was significantly reduced with coumaphos, whereas both pollen and non-pollen foraging behaviors critical for resource acquisition were reduced with tau-fluvalinate, coumaphos, and formic acid. Thymol significantly reduced non-pollen foraging but also reduced the negative effects of ethanol on hygienic behavior. Amitraz did not affect hygienic and foraging behaviors relative to the solvent. Thymol and amitraz appeared to be the safest acaricides based on these tests.

Genomic regions influencing aggressive behavior in honey bees are defined by colony allele frequencies

For social animals, the genotypes of group members affect the social environment, and thus individual behavior, often indirectly. We used genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to determine the influence of individual vs. group genotypes on aggression in honey bees. Aggression in honey bees arises from the coordinated actions of colony members, primarily nonreproductive "soldier" bees, and thus, experiences evolutionary selection at the colony level. Here, we show that individual behavior is influenced by colony environment, which in turn, is shaped by allele frequency within colonies. Using a population with a range of aggression, we sequenced individual whole genomes and looked for genotype-behavior associations within colonies in a common environment. There were no significant correlations between individual aggression and specific alleles. By contrast, we found strong correlations between colony aggression and the frequencies of specific alleles within colonies, despite a small number of colonies. Associations at the colony level were highly significant and were very similar among both soldiers and foragers, but they covaried with one another. One strongly significant association peak, containing an ortholog of the Drosophila sensory gene dpr4 on linkage group (chromosome) 7, showed strong signals of both selection and admixture during the evolution of gentleness in a honey bee population. We thus found links between colony genetics and group behavior and also, molecular evidence for group-level selection, acting at the colony level. We conclude that group genetics dominates individual genetics in determining the fatal decision of honey bees to sting.

The Effect of Insulin Signaling Pathway on Honey Bee Grooming Behavior

The insulin signaling pathway is highly conserved mechanism in vertebrate and invertebrates, and regulates many physiological processes such as metabolism, growth and development. Insulin becomes functional after binding to insulin receptors in most tissues. Any disorder in the regulation of insulin release or downstream signaling leads to a variety of metabolic diseases including diabetes and obesity. In general, researchers have focused on the role of insulin signaling in metabolism, cell proliferation, development, growth and aging, but the role of insulin in regulating insect behavior and interactions between neural circuits has been interesting and neglected issue. In this review we focused on the possible effects of the insulin signaling pathway on grooming behavior in honey bees.

Artificial Bee Colony–Based Feature Selection Algorithm for Cyberbullying

Abstract As a nature-inspired algorithm, artificial bee colony (ABC) is an optimization algorithm that is inspired by the search behaviour of honey bees. The main aim of this study is to examine the effects of the ABC-based feature selection algorithm on classification performance for cyberbullying, which has become a significant worldwide social issue in recent years. With this purpose, the classification performance of the proposed ABC-based feature selection method is compared with three different traditional methods such as information gain, ReliefF and chi square. Experimental results present that ABC-based feature selection method outperforms than three traditional methods for the detection of cyberbullying. The Macro averaged F_measure of the data set is increased from 0.659 to 0.8 using proposed ABC-based feature selection method.

Hybrid Bees Approach based on Improved Search Sites Selection by Firefly Algorithm for Solving Complex Continuous Functions

The Bees Algorithm (BA) is a recent population-based optimization algorithm, which tries to imitate the natural behavior of honey bees in food foraging. This meta-heuristic is widely used in various engineering fields. However, it suffers from certain limitations. This paper focuses on improvements to the BA in order to improve its overall performance. The proposed enhancements were applied alone or in pair to develop enhanced versions of the BA. Three improved variants of BA were presented: BAMS-AN, HBAFA and HFBA. The new BAMS-AN includes memory scheme in order to avoid revisiting previously visited sites and an adaptive neighborhood search procedure to escape from local optima during the local search process. HBAFA introduces the Firefly Algorithm (FA) in local search of BA to update the positions of recruited bees, thus increasing exploitation in each selected site. The third improved BA, i.e. HFBA, employs FA to initialize the population of bees in the BA for a best exploration and to start the search from more promising regions of the search space. The proposed enhancements to the BA have been tested using several continuous benchmark functions and the results have been compared to those achieved by the standard BA and other optimization techniques. The experimental results indicate that the improved variants of BA outperform the standard BA and other algorithms on most of the benchmark functions. The enhanced BAMS-AN performs particularly better than others improved BAs in terms of solution quality and convergence speed.

Effect of cold narcosis on foraging behavior of European honey bees (Apis mellifera ligustica) tracked using a radio-frequency identification (RFID) system

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is both a commonly used method and a promising tool for investigating the foraging activities of bees. To prevent loss of electronic tags from individual bees, they must be immobilized long enough for adhesives to dry, but because narcosis can negatively affect bee health and behaviors, a very brief narcosis period is recommended. The present study assessed the impact of 30 min of cold narcosis, compared with carbon dioxide or no narcosis, on foraging activities using RFID monitoring. From each of three hives, 8 to 10 bees were placed in each of three narcosis treatments (n = 85), then tagged and monitored for homing success, activity after returning to the hive, and duration of flights outside the hive. Bees showed no significant differences in homing success and flight duration between cold narcosis treatment and the control (no narcosis), whereas bees narcotized by carbon dioxide showed significantly lower homing success and shorter flight duration than control bees. We conclude that for observing bee foraging behaviors using RFID systems, the effects of cold narcosis on ice for 30 min on foraging behaviors are acceptable, and cold narcosis is more practical for tagging many bees at once than physical immobilization using plunger cages.

Effects of different chilling procedures on honey bees (Apis mellifera) for anesthesia

Immobilization is required for the examination and manipulation of honey bees (Apis mellifera), and many techniques have been developed to render honey bees immobile until this date. Among them, two methods, which are carbon dioxide (CO2) and low-temperature narcosis, have been commonly used to induce anesthesia on the bees. Although CO2-induced anesthesia changes the behavior and physiology of honey bees, the anesthesia induced by cold is considered commonly as non-damaging for the bees. There are a very limited number of studies on the effects of different chilling protocols in honey bees. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of different chilling procedures on the survival rate and depth of anesthesia in honey bees. A total of 4 groups were formed, one of which was the control group. Three temperatures (+4°C, -20°C and -80°C) were applied to three different experimental groups. Furthermore, four different exposure times were implemented on each experimental group (n=20 worker bees in each trial). The depth of anesthesia was assessed and scored based on the movements and anesthesia recovery time in honeybees. There was a statistically significant relationship between duration and survival/death rate in the applications at +4°C, -20°C and -80°C (P<0.001). The method that was applied for 5 minutes at -20°C was the most ideal chilling method (P<0.03) and showed the lowest mortality in addition to the high depth of anesthesia. This study may assist in selecting the safest and deepest anesthesia method required in any study on honey bees.

Sublethal acetamiprid doses negatively affect the lifespans and foraging behaviors of honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) workers

The neonicotinoid insecticide acetamiprid is applied widely for pest control in agriculture production. However, little is known about the effects of acetamiprid on the foraging behavior of nontarget pollinators. This study aims to investigate effects of sublethal acetamiprid doses on lifespans and foraging behaviors of honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) under natural swarm conditions. Newly emerged worker bees of each treatment received a drop of 1.5 μL acetamiprid solution (containing 0, 0.5, 1, and 2 μg/bee acetamiprid, diluted by water) on the thorax respectively. Bees from 2-day-old to deadline were monitored on foraging behaviors involving the age of bee for first foraging flights, rotating day-off status and the number of foraging flights using the radio frequency identification (RFID) system. We found that acetamiprid at 2 μg/bee significantly reduced the lifespan, induced precocious foraging activity, influenced the rotating day-off status and decreased foraging flights of worker bees. The abnormal behaviors of worker bees may be associated with a decline in lifespan. This work may provide a new perspective into the neonicotinoids that accelerate the colony failure.

Contribution Concerning the Behaviour Knowledge before Natural Swarming in Honeybees (Apis mellifera carpathica, Linnaeus)

In this study we followed the way in which evolves the behaviour of some honeybee families (Apis mellifera carpathica, Linnaeus), maintained in vertical beehives (modified Dadant type), in conditions of stationary bee keeping, having in view the natural queen cell’s build rhythm after the second acacia tree harvest (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) in Jucu area of Cluj County. There were taken into observation 20 biological units with queen bees of different ages. It was monitored the development rhythm of natural queen cells, which are in attendance by the working bees, and to put into evidence the swarming instinct strength, so in bee keeping practice to be known and to be avoided the natural swarming. The determination of occupied surfaces with covered brood and larval was effected with the Netz framework. The aim of our study was to understand how the swarming in honeybees occurs. By detailed observation, we want to describe and to explain the behaviour of honeybees before the swarming process. The obtained results are quantified in absolute values and expressed graphically in relative values, but in the next three apicultural years (2020, 2021 and 2022), the experiment will be repeated for a variance analysis, which will provide a statistical assurance. We hope that these data will give contribution for the apicultural practice, keeping attention on queen bees’ importance during active season and on careful supervision on development rhythm of the honeybee units during the natural swarming.

Feeding behavior of honey bees on dry sugar

The feeding habits of insects can be influenced by food abundance, nutrition, physical forces, and many other variables, which is why this topic is multidisciplinary and perennially fascinating. Although honey bees primarily feed on liquid nectar, they also can feed on dry sugar; however, the feeding mechanism for feeding on dry substances by a primarily fluid-feeding insect remains unexplored. We observed that, when honey bees are accessible to both dry sugar and liquid nectar, they prefer to feed on the latter. To elucidate the diet preference, we conducted a comparative study between feeding on dry-sugar and drawing up liquid-nectar, from the tongue kinematics and dynamic configuration, friction force, glossal durability, and feeding efficiency. Using a high-speed camera, we discovered that the hairy tongue of the honey bee uses back-and-forth movements to furrow a groove on pieces of dry sugar, with saliva simultaneously dissolving the sugar. We found that the lapping frequency of the tongue on dry sugar reduces from 4.5 Hz to 1.6 Hz when compared to feeding on the liquid diet; a 64% decrease in average tongue speed. Through tribological tests, we revealed that the friction forces when feeding on dry sugar is approximately 5 times that of dipping nectar, and the glossal hairs wear 4 times faster when feeding on dry sugar compared to the sucrose solution. We built a mathematical model to bridge the gap between energy intake rate and tongue dynamics of these two feeding modes. The theoretical net energy intake rate of feeding on dry sugar is 50% lower than when feeding on sucrose solutions. Both experimental and theoretical discoveries revealed that although honey bees can feed on dry substances, natural selection has forged their tongue structures primarily for a liquid diet. This study combined behavioral and mechanical tests with mathematical modeling, which highlights the advantages of using multidisciplinary approaches for uncovering the feeding physiology of insects.

Complexity and plasticity in honey bee phototactic behaviour

The ability to move towards or away from a light source, namely phototaxis, is essential for a number of species to find the right environmental niche and may have driven the appearance of simple visual systems. In this study we ask if the later evolution of more complex visual systems was accompanied by a sophistication of phototactic behaviour. The honey bee is an ideal model organism to tackle this question, as it has an elaborate visual system, demonstrates exquisite abilities for visual learning and performs phototaxis. Our data suggest that in this insect, phototaxis has wavelength specific properties and is a highly dynamical response including multiple decision steps. In addition, we show that previous experience with a light (through exposure or classical aversive conditioning) modulates the phototactic response. This plasticity is dependent on the wavelength used, with blue being more labile than green or ultraviolet. Wavelength, intensity and past experience are integrated into an overall valence for each light that determines phototactic behaviour in honey bees. Thus, our results support the idea that complex visual systems allow sophisticated phototaxis. Future studies could take advantage of these findings to better understand the neuronal circuits underlying this processing of the visual information.

How does the novel insecticide flupyradifurone affect honeybee longevity and behavior

How does the novel insecticide flupyradifurone affect honeybee longevity and behavior

A direct assay to assess self-grooming behavior in honey bees (Apis mellifera L.)

Grooming behavior confers resistance to honey bees against the mite Varroa destructor and thus is a mechanism of interest for studies of social immunity and breeding purposes. However, mites are not always available to conduct grooming assays and can introduce variability to the evaluations. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the use of wheat flour as an irritant in a laboratory assay to assess self-grooming behavior in honey bees. Presumed Varroa-susceptible and Varroa-resistant genotypes were used to determine the time it took the bees to initiate grooming instances and the proportion of bees that responded when exposed to either flour or a Varroa mite. Flour elicited significantly faster grooming responses and with a higher proportion of individuals in both genotypes in comparison with V. destructor. Also, significant differences between both genotypes were observed. It is concluded that flour can be used as an irritant instead of V. destructor to evaluate self-grooming behavior in bees in the laboratory.

Cooperation, Communication, and Collaboration: The Sociality of a Corps de Ballet

This paper analyzes the relational and cooperative labor of a corps de ballet. In particular, attention is called to the ways the dancers’ embodied knowledge and decision-making processes constitute a vital part of a production’s impact. Two key aspects of dancers’ performances as a corps de ballet are collaboration and cooperation, which are components of eusociality, a term used to describe the highest level of organization of sociality, commonly observed in honeybees. Through embodied experiences and attention to dancers’ decision-making, we find a corps de ballet operates in ways that are similar to democratic decision-making processes in honeybee behaviors.

Spontaneous quantity discrimination of artificial flowers by foraging honeybees

Many animals need to process numerical and quantity information in order to survive. Spontaneous quantity discrimination allows differentiation between two or more quantities without reinforcement or prior training on any numerical task. It is useful for assessing food resources, aggressive interactions, predator avoidance and prey choice. Honeybees have previously demonstrated landmark counting, quantity matching, use of numerical rules, quantity discrimination and arithmetic, but have not been tested for spontaneous quantity discrimination. In bees, spontaneous quantity discrimination could be useful when assessing the quantity of flowers available in a patch and thus maximizing foraging efficiency. In the current study, we assessed the spontaneous quantity discrimination behaviour of honeybees. Bees were trained to associate a single yellow artificial flower with sucrose. Bees were then tested for their ability to discriminate between 13 different quantity comparisons of artificial flowers (numeric ratio range: 0.08-0.8). Bees significantly preferred the higher quantity only in comparisons where '1' was the lower quantity and where there was a sufficient magnitudinal distance between quantities (e.g. 1 versus 12, 1 versus 4, and 1 versus 3 but not 1 versus 2). Our results suggest a possible evolutionary benefit to choosing a foraging patch with a higher quantity of flowers when resources are scarce.

Interactions Between Thiamethoxam and Deformed Wing Virus Can Drastically Impair Flight Behavior of Honey Bees.

Exposure to multiple stress factors is believed to contribute to honey bee colony decline. However, little is known about how co-exposure to stress factors can alter the survival and behavior of free-living honey bees in colony conditions. We therefore studied the potential interaction between a neonicotinoid pesticide, thiamethoxam, and a highly prevalent honey bee pathogen, Deformed wing virus (DWV). For this purpose, tagged bees were exposed to DWV by feeding or injection, and/or to field-relevant doses of thiamethoxam, then left in colonies equipped with optical bee counters to monitor flight activity. DWV loads and the expression of immune genes were quantified. A reduction in vitellogenin expression level was observed in DWV-injected bees and was associated with precocious onset of foraging. Combined exposure to DWV and thiamethoxam did not result in higher DWV loads compared to bees only exposed to DWV, but induced precocious foraging, increased the risk of not returning to the hive after the first flight, and decreased survival when compared to single stress exposures. We therefore provided the first evidence for deleterious interactions between DWV and thiamethoxam in natural conditions.

English

English

Neural Correlates of Social Behavior in Mushroom Body Extrinsic Neurons of the Honeybee Apis mellifera.

The social behavior of honeybees (Apis mellifera) has been extensively investigated, but little is known about its neuronal correlates. We developed a method that allowed us to record extracellularly from mushroom body extrinsic neurons (MB ENs) in a freely moving bee within a small but functioning mini colony of approximately 1,000 bees. This study aimed to correlate the neuronal activity of multimodal high-order MB ENs with social behavior in a close to natural setting. The behavior of all bees in the colony was video recorded. The behavior of the recorded animal was compared with other hive mates and no significant differences were found. Changes in the spike rate appeared before, during or after social interactions. The time window of the strongest effect on spike rate changes ranged from 1 s to 2 s before and after the interaction, depending on the individual animal and recorded neuron. The highest spike rates occurred when the experimental animal was situated close to a hive mate. The variance of the spike rates was analyzed as a proxy for high order multi-unit processing. Comparing randomly selected time windows with those in which the recorded animal performed social interactions showed a significantly increased spike rate variance during social interactions. The experimental set-up employed for this study offers a powerful opportunity to correlate neuronal activity with intrinsically motivated behavior of socially interacting animals. We conclude that the recorded MB ENs are potentially involved in initiating and controlling social interactions in honeybees.

Effects of Neural Gene Expressions on Grooming Behavior in Honey Bees

Grooming behavior, which is one of the behavioral resistance mechanisms based on the genetic basis in honeybees, is a defense response against parasitic mites, especially Varroa mite. In recent years, scientists and beekeepers have focused on bee breeding in terms of grooming behavior, because honey bees showing grooming behavior have the potential to can protect themselves against Varroa destructor. It is of great importance to determine the genes and gene regions related to this behavior before starting the breeding studies in terms of grooming behavior. In this respect, the right honey bee species or races can be selected and the success rate will increase. In researches, it was found that bees exhibit different grooming behaviors level according to species and races. Therefore, some species and races were found to be more successful than others. Especially in neural, developmental, detoxification and health-related gene expression studies, it has been shown that some gene expression is in direct proportion to the intensity of grooming behavior. While the genes responsible for grooming behavior are not known exactly, studies are underway to solve the genetic mechanism of this behavior. In this study, we reviewed the effects of neural gene expression on grooming behavior.

Hybridizing Bees Algorithm with Firefly Algorithm for Solving Complex Continuous Functions

In this article, two hybrid schemes using the Bees Algorithm (BA) and the Firefly Algorithm (FA) are presented for numerical complex problem resolution. The BA is a recent population-based optimization algorithm, which tries to imitate the natural behaviour of honey bees foraging for food. The FA is a swarm intelligence technique based upon the communication behaviour and the idealized flashing features of tropical fireflies. The first approach, called the Hybrid Bee Firefly Algorithm (HBAFA), centres on improvements to the BA with FA during the local search thus increasing exploitation in each research zone. The second one, namely the Hybrid Firefly Bee Algorithm (HFBA), uses FA in the initialization step for a best exploration and detection of promising areas in research space. The performance of the novel hybrid algorithms was investigated on a set of various benchmarks and compared with standard BA, and other methods found in the literature. The results show that the proposed algorithms perform better than the Standard BA, and confirm their effectiveness in solving continuous optimization functions.