Bee food: the chemistry and nutritional value of nectar, pollen and mixtures of the two

Abstract

Bees are herbivorous insects, consuming nectar and pollen throughout their life cycles. This paper is a brief review of the chemistry of these two floral resources and the implications for bee nutrition. Nectar is primarily an energy source, but in addition to sugars contains various minor constituents that may, directly or indirectly, have nutritional significance. Pollen provides bees with the protein, lipids, vitamins and minerals that are essential for larval rearing. Chemical analyses of pollen have tended to focus on the protein component of bee-collected pollens as an index of nutritional quality. However, the substantial nectar content of such samples (~50% dry mass) should not be ignored, especially in view of current interest in measuring the nutritional quality of floral resources for bees.

Bees and flowers: How to feed an invasive beetle species

“…Moreover, the rather small solitary bee nests are almost certainly not producing the same amounts of odor cues for attracting adult SHBs compared to honeybee colonies comprised of thousands of individuals and ample food stores. Indeed, pollen and nectar composition and abundance can vary substantially among plant species (Nicolson, 2011;Percyval, 1961;Roulston & Cane, 2000). Instead, SHBs are known to aggregate in specific colonies suggesting the existence of a respective pheromone (Neumann & Elzen, 2004).…”

Honeybee nutrition is linked to landscape composition

“…Additionally, beebread contains protein and amino acids, both of which are variable between pollens (Van der Planck et al 2013); however, the assays in this study were not able to detect amino acid quantities. There is also growing evidence that the protein content and amino acid composition may play a role in determining the amount of pollen bees consume, therefore making this an important factor to consider in future studies (Nicolson 2011;Nicolson and Human 2013).…”

Overwintering honey bees: biology and management

“…Brood build-up in the spring typically leads to swarming, where the majority of the workers leave the colony with the old queen in search of a new nest site, leaving behind a new queen and the remaining workers to rebuild the original colony [12,13]. After swarming, both original and new colonies spend the remainder of the summer and early fall collecting pollen, which is used a protein source for brood rearing, and nectar, which is converted to honey and used as a general energy source especially during winter months [14]. When the temperature drops below 10°C, the bees in the colony form a thermoregulating cluster [15].…”

“…Increasing pollen stores through supplementary feeding or restricting pollen stores by placing pollen traps across the colony entrances will, respectively, delay or accelerate the timing of the production of long-lived winter bees relative to control colonies [ A c c e p t e d M a n u s c r i p t These effects of nutrition may be due to indirect effects on brood production. Pollen serves as the primary source of protein and lipids, which are critical for brood rearing [14]. Honey bees adjust the rate of brood rearing according to the availability of protein resources and cease reproduction when they are completely deprived [26,24,27].…”