Honey robbing: could human changes to the environment transform a rare foraging tactic into a maladaptive behavior?

Rittschof, Clare C.; Nieh, James C.

doi:10.1016/j.cois.2021.02.005

Cited by 6 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…This would require further evolutionary studies. On the same note, it is theorised that robbing behaviour is an adaptation caused by human influence on honeybee colonies [18]. Adapting this mathematical model to an evolutionary framework can help address this question.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Drifting is worse when hives are visually similar and in close proximity [17]. Honeybees are also known to pillage dying colonies for resources [18]. This is distinct from drift as it is an active behaviour rather than a passive one, and is less dependent on distance given the range of foraging bees, but can still be a transmission route for disease [19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Multi-Scale Model of Disease Transfer in Honey Bee Colonies

Betti

Shaw

2021

Insects

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Inter-colony disease transfer poses a serious hurdle to successfully managing healthy honeybee colonies. In this study, we build a multi-scale model of two interacting honey bee colonies. The model considers the effects of forager and drone drift, guarding behaviour, and resource robbing of dying colonies on the spread of disease between colonies. Our results show that when drifting is high, disease can spread rapidly between colonies, that guarding behaviour needs to be particularly efficient to be effective, and that for dense apiaries drifting is of greater concern than robbing. We show that while disease can put an individual colony at greater risk, drifting can help less the burden of disease in a colony. We posit some evolutionary questions that come from this study that can be addressed with this model.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Multi-Scale Model of Disease Transfer in Honey Bee Colonies

Betti

Shaw

2021

Insects

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“…Although a common garden design with all colonies maintained in the same apiary is desirable to control for multiple environmental factors, we used separate apiaries for the following reasons. First, the presence of scutellata -hybrids with EHB colonies in the same apiary has been shown to increase the defensiveness of the EHB colonies 39 , 40 We wished to independently measure the defensiveness of feral and managed colonies over time. Using separate apiaries prevented this interaction problem.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Climatic factors such as increased temperature, humidity, and pressure can also affect colony defense 38 . In addition, resource limitation can heighten honey bee robbing behavior and has been shown to increase defensiveness in guards on both behavioral and transcriptomic levels 39 , 40 . Colony defensiveness may also increase during reproductive swarming or as a response to predation 30 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal variation in defense behavior in European and scutellata-hybrid honey bees (Apis mellifera) in Southern California

Zarate,

Mukogawa,

Kohn

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

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Nest defense in the honey bee (Apis mellifera) is a complex collective behavior modulated by various interacting social, environmental, and genetic factors. Scutellata-hybrid (“Africanized”) honey bees are usually considered to be far more defensive than European honey bees which are therefore preferred for commercial and hobbyist beekeeping. In the most recent zone of scutellata hybridization, the southern USA, the degree to which this defensiveness differs among current strains, and the extent to which defensiveness varies across a season has not been measured. We quantified the levels of A. m. scutellata ancestry in colonies and conducted a seasonal assessment (May through November) of colony nest defensiveness in feral scutellata-hybrid and a popular lineage of European honey bee commonly used in managed environments (sold as A. mellifera ligustica) hives at two apiaries in Southern California. Standard measures of defensiveness were low in both scutellata-hybrid and European colonies during May. Defensiveness increased during the later months of the study in scutellata-hybrid colonies. Most measures of defensiveness did not increase in managed colonies. Defensiveness in the scutellata-hybrids appears lower than what has been previously documented in Brazil and Mexico, possibly due to their lower proportion of A. m. scutellata ancestry.

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“…Novel agricultural environments present a variety of cues that may elicit maladaptive behaviour ranging from inappropriate habitat selection (Ganser et al, 2019) to high‐risk foraging strategies (Rittschof & Nieh, 2021). Our results clearly show that commercial bumble bee colonies have the potential to create an ecological trap for wild bumble bee queens by subverting their natural usurpation behaviours.…”

Section: Implications For Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Commercial Bombus impatiens colonies function as ecological traps for wild queens

Miller

Hale

Richardson

et al. 2023

Journal of Applied Ecology

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In response to anthropogenic environmental change, the cues that animals use throughout their lifecycle to optimize fitness may become unreliable, resulting in an ecological trap. Here we investigated whether commercial bumble bee Bombus impatiens colonies managed for early spring crop pollination act as ecological traps for wild nest‐searching Bombus queens by subverting their natural nest usurpation behaviour. An average of 10 dead wild queens were recovered from each standard colony during the 2‐week period of the experiment, but colonies with queen excluders were successful in preventing wild queen deaths. The use of queen excluders did not impact colony performance in terms of resident queen survival, colony reproduction, colony weight gain or worker body size. Sites where wild nest‐searching queens were small had higher rates of failed usurpation, suggesting smaller‐sized queens are disproportionately at risk from failed usurpation. Furthermore, sites where commercial colonies without queen excluders were introduced for spring crop pollination had fewer bumble bee visits to a later‐blooming crop compared to sites without commercial colonies. Synthesis and applications. Our findings reveal a novel mechanism by which commercial colonies can negatively impact wild bumble bee populations and their pollination services. At the same time, we demonstrate a simple and inexpensive risk mitigation tool—a queen excluder—was 100% effective at eliminating this risk without compromising colony performance. Commercial colonies used outdoors during the bumble bee nest‐searching period should be fit with queen excluders to prevent negative impacts on wild pollinator communities and their services.

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Honey robbing: could human changes to the environment transform a rare foraging tactic into a maladaptive behavior?

Cited by 6 publications

References 64 publications

A Multi-Scale Model of Disease Transfer in Honey Bee Colonies

A Multi-Scale Model of Disease Transfer in Honey Bee Colonies

Seasonal variation in defense behavior in European and scutellata-hybrid honey bees (Apis mellifera) in Southern California

Commercial Bombus impatiens colonies function as ecological traps for wild queens

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