Do honey bee (Apis mellifera) foragers recruit their nestmates to native forbs in reconstructed prairie habitats?

Honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies are valued for the pollination services that they provide. However, colony mortality has increased to unsustainable levels in some countries, including the United States. Landscape conversion to monocrop agriculture likely plays a role in this increased mortality...

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Autores principales:	Morgan K Carr-Markell, Cora M Demler, Margaret J Couvillon, Roger Schürch, Marla Spivak
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2020
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/2dcb8bf8af6045f6a4eb743d742ef820
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:2dcb8bf8af6045f6a4eb743d742ef8202021-12-02T20:05:47ZDo honey bee (Apis mellifera) foragers recruit their nestmates to native forbs in reconstructed prairie habitats?1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0228169https://doaj.org/article/2dcb8bf8af6045f6a4eb743d742ef8202020-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0228169https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203Honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies are valued for the pollination services that they provide. However, colony mortality has increased to unsustainable levels in some countries, including the United States. Landscape conversion to monocrop agriculture likely plays a role in this increased mortality by decreasing the food sources available to honey bees. Many land owners and organizations in the Upper Midwest region of the United States would like to restore/reconstruct native prairie habitats. With increasing public awareness of high bee mortality, many landowners and beekeepers have wondered whether these restored prairies could significantly improve honey bee colony nutrition. Conveniently, honey bees have a unique communication signal called a waggle dance, which indicates the locations of the flower patches that foragers perceive as highly profitable food sources. We used these communication signals to answer two main questions: First, is there any part of the season in which the foraging force of a honey bee colony will devote a large proportion of its recruitment efforts (waggle dances) to flower patches within prairies? Second, will honey bee foragers advertise specific taxa of native prairie flowers as profitable pollen sources? We decoded 1528 waggle dances in colonies located near two large, reconstructed prairies. We also collected pollen loads from a subset of waggle-dancing bees, which we then analyzed to determine the flower taxon advertised. Most dances advertised flower patches outside of reconstructed prairies, but the proportion of dances advertising nectar sources within prairies increased significantly in the late summer/fall at one site. Honey bees advertised seven native prairie taxa as profitable pollen sources, although the three most commonly advertised pollen taxa were non-native. Our results suggest that including certain native prairie flower taxa in reconstructed prairies may increase the chances that colonies will use those prairies as major food sources during the period of greatest colony growth and honey production.Morgan K Carr-MarkellCora M DemlerMargaret J CouvillonRoger SchürchMarla SpivakPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 15, Iss 2, p e0228169 (2020)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Morgan K Carr-Markell Cora M Demler Margaret J Couvillon Roger Schürch Marla Spivak Do honey bee (Apis mellifera) foragers recruit their nestmates to native forbs in reconstructed prairie habitats?
description	Honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies are valued for the pollination services that they provide. However, colony mortality has increased to unsustainable levels in some countries, including the United States. Landscape conversion to monocrop agriculture likely plays a role in this increased mortality by decreasing the food sources available to honey bees. Many land owners and organizations in the Upper Midwest region of the United States would like to restore/reconstruct native prairie habitats. With increasing public awareness of high bee mortality, many landowners and beekeepers have wondered whether these restored prairies could significantly improve honey bee colony nutrition. Conveniently, honey bees have a unique communication signal called a waggle dance, which indicates the locations of the flower patches that foragers perceive as highly profitable food sources. We used these communication signals to answer two main questions: First, is there any part of the season in which the foraging force of a honey bee colony will devote a large proportion of its recruitment efforts (waggle dances) to flower patches within prairies? Second, will honey bee foragers advertise specific taxa of native prairie flowers as profitable pollen sources? We decoded 1528 waggle dances in colonies located near two large, reconstructed prairies. We also collected pollen loads from a subset of waggle-dancing bees, which we then analyzed to determine the flower taxon advertised. Most dances advertised flower patches outside of reconstructed prairies, but the proportion of dances advertising nectar sources within prairies increased significantly in the late summer/fall at one site. Honey bees advertised seven native prairie taxa as profitable pollen sources, although the three most commonly advertised pollen taxa were non-native. Our results suggest that including certain native prairie flower taxa in reconstructed prairies may increase the chances that colonies will use those prairies as major food sources during the period of greatest colony growth and honey production.
format	article
author	Morgan K Carr-Markell Cora M Demler Margaret J Couvillon Roger Schürch Marla Spivak
author_facet	Morgan K Carr-Markell Cora M Demler Margaret J Couvillon Roger Schürch Marla Spivak
author_sort	Morgan K Carr-Markell
title	Do honey bee (Apis mellifera) foragers recruit their nestmates to native forbs in reconstructed prairie habitats?
title_short	Do honey bee (Apis mellifera) foragers recruit their nestmates to native forbs in reconstructed prairie habitats?
title_full	Do honey bee (Apis mellifera) foragers recruit their nestmates to native forbs in reconstructed prairie habitats?
title_fullStr	Do honey bee (Apis mellifera) foragers recruit their nestmates to native forbs in reconstructed prairie habitats?
title_full_unstemmed	Do honey bee (Apis mellifera) foragers recruit their nestmates to native forbs in reconstructed prairie habitats?
title_sort	do honey bee (apis mellifera) foragers recruit their nestmates to native forbs in reconstructed prairie habitats?
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2020
url	https://doaj.org/article/2dcb8bf8af6045f6a4eb743d742ef820
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Do honey bee (Apis mellifera) foragers recruit their nestmates to native forbs in reconstructed prairie habitats?

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