Comparing foraging behaviour of small and large honey‐bee colonies by decoding waggle dances made by foragers

Abstract

Summary 1.We compared the foraging behaviour of two small (approximately 6000 bees) and two large (approximately 20 000 bees) honey-bee colonies over 6 days. We determined where the bees of each colony foraged, whether they collected nectar or pollen, the number of patches foraged at, the number of bees engaged in foraging, and the concentration of the nectar collected. 2. Even though the colonies were located in the same environment and had the same genetic background, foragers from different colonies used different forage patches. 3. Small and large colonies foraged at a similar distance in July when forage was abundant (mean foraging distance for small and large colonies was 0·67 and 0·62 km, respectively) whereas the large colonies foraged significantly further in August when forage was scarce (mean foraging distance for small and large colonies was 1·43 and 2·85 km, respectively). 4. Small colonies foraged at approximately the same number of patches as large colonies. The total number of foragers returning to the small colonies per minute was significantly lower than the number of foragers returning to the large colonies. This means that, relative to their size, small colonies foraged at more patches than large colonies. 5. The quality of the nectar collected by foragers of the small and large colonies did not differ. However, small colonies did collect more pollen than large colonies.

Honey bee colonies performance enhance by newly modified beehives

“…A positive correlation was found between the foraging activity and the brood area, and between the foraging activity and the bee numbers. This evidence also supported that of Beekman et al (2004), who found that small colonies had lower numbers of foragers returning per minute than large colonies. A moderate positive correlation was found between the foraging activity and the stored pollen area.…”

Benefits of recruitment in honey bees: effects of ecology and colony size in an individual-based model

“…At the start of a simulation, the hive (containing all bees) is placed in the centre of an 8 3 8 km map (64 km 2 ). This area was chosen because more than 90% of foraging trips typically occur within 4 km of a hive (Beekman et al, 2004;Seeley, 1995;Visscher and Seeley, 1982). During the simulation, the behavioral state and variables are updated for each bee in turn (in a randomized order) at every time step.…”

“…This was varied from 2.5 to 80 ll (the maximum capacity of the honey bee crop, Frisch, 1967), and the energy content of nectar was assumed to be 5.819 J/ll (about 30% sugar per weight, which is a typical value, Seeley, 1985). Empirical studies show that the typical amount collected by bees from natural food sources varies mostly from 10 to 30 ll per trip (and thus per patch; Beekman et al, 2004;Roubik et al, 1986;Seeley 1985Seeley , 1995Thom et al, 2000, Dornhaus A and Chittka L, unpublished data). Although the definition of ''quality'' just given thus relates to nectar volume, it can equally be thought of as representing sugar concentration or total sugar mass (incorporating concentration and volume).…”

“…Because they use a signaler-limited recruitment system, rather than mass recruitment, findings from ants will not necessarily apply to honey bees. Beekman et al (2004) showed that large and small honey bee colonies forage at the same number of patches. It is thus not clear whether larger or smaller colonies should be more dependent on recruitment in honey bees.…”

Why do not all workers work? Colony size and workload during emigrations in the ant Temnothorax albipennis

“…Workers in smaller colonies have sometimes been predicted to work harder (Houston et al 1988;Franks and Partridge 1993), whereas another study predicts higher workload in larger colonies (Schmid-Hempel 1990). Empirical support seems equivocal, with some support for higher individual effort in smaller (Fewell et al 1991;London and Jeanne 2003) or larger colonies (Schmid-Hempel 1990;Herbers and Choiniere 1996;Plowes and Adams 2005), and some studies finding no clear effect (Wolf and Schmid-Hempel 1990;Beekman 2004). What is the effect of colony size on individual workload, and are larger colonies likely to have a more skewed workload distribution, creating some highly active and many inactive workers?…”