Pollen nutrition and colony development in honey bees: part 1

Keller, Irene; Fluri, Peter; Imdorf, Anton

doi:10.1080/0005772x.2005.11099641

Cited by 187 publications

(133 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…Honeybee colonies sampled at various sites in Israel over a year usually collected pollen from 5-9 species at a time (Avni et al 2009). Similar dependence on a few pollen sources was noted by Keller et al (2005), based mainly on Swiss studies, and mixed pollens from five plant species were found to be better than single pollens for maintaining honeybee immune systems (Alaux et al 2010). More data on the amino acid composition of fresh pollens are needed to assess the nutritional significance of these pollen choices at the colony level: are they due to floral constancy or the selection of complementary pollens to compensate for amino acid imbalances?…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

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

2011

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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.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

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

2011

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“…Pollen is difficult to digest (Crailsheim, 1990) because the proteinaceous pollen grain interior is protected by a tough, cuticularized pollen wall of complex structure (Roulston and Cane, 2000). Most of the digestive processes occur in the midgut (Keller et al, 2005). Although the midgut epithelium is partially protected by a peritrophic membrane (Richards and Richards, 1977), a higher digestive activity may lead to elevated levels of cell damage because the epithelial cells are metabolically active and protection is imperfect.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Age, caste, and behavior determine the replicative activity of intestinal stem cells in honeybees (Apis mellifera L.)

Ward

Coleman

Clinnin

et al. 2008

Experimental Gerontology

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Abstract:Honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) display a pronounced natural aging plasticity. The differences in aging rates between the alternative phenotypes and behavioral classes could reflect differences in protection against damage or in the ability to repair vulnerable tissues. As in other animals, including humans, the gut is continually exposed to environmental insults and harbors a large population of replicating stem cells that maintain the intestinal epithelium. Through studies of the major internal organs using incorporation and immunodetection of the mitotic marker bromodeoxyuridine, the intestine was determined to be the main site of tissue renewal in adult honeybees. Proliferative activity of the intestinal stem cells was compared among queens, workers, and males of different ages. Simultaneous attempts to assess intestinal cell loss via apoptosis yielded inconclusive results. The relationship between intestinal cell proliferation and worker life-history was evaluated in greater depth by studying diutinus winter workers, reproductive workers, and by decoupling worker behavioral status from chronological age in a single-cohort colony. Intestinal cell proliferation was abundant in all groups and showed an agerelated decline in workers, queens, and males. At young ages, workers exhibited relatively more intestinal cell proliferation than did queens and queens more than drones, but the caste and sex differences decreased with age. Cell proliferation did not decrease beyond 6 weeks of age in older queens and in diutinus workers. Ovary activation did not correlate with the amount of intestinal stem cell proliferation in workers, although the queenless hive condition was associated with lower overall counts. In the single-cohort colony, nurse bees exhibited more cell proliferation than foragers, regardless of age. The overall results do not support our hypothesis that longer-lived phenotypes exhibit increased somatic repair in the form of higher replicative activity of intestinal stem cells. Instead, the observed proliferation patterns reflect differential demands for digestive activity in the different groups, which result in different requirements for replacement of lost intestinal cells. The maintenance of proliferative capacity for over 1 year suggests that queen intestinal stem cells have a relatively high replicative potential, but further studies are needed to relate honeybee lifespan differences to cellular aging.

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“…Numerous studies have quantified nectar quantity and quality (in terms of sugar content) in a huge range of plant taxa, but it is pollen that provides most of the dietary nutrition of bees. Pollen varies in protein content among species (Roulston et al, 2000) and this affects the pollen foraging behaviour of honeybees (Cook et al, 2003;Keller et al, 2005). If invasive alien plants produce nectar and pollen of sufficiently high quantity and quality, they could act as important foraging resources, particularly in forage-depleted agri-environments.…”

Section: Direct Impacts On Beesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological impacts of invasive alien species on bees

2009

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-We review direct and indirect impacts of invasive alien species (focussing on plants and insects) on native bees worldwide. Although there is a rapidly growing body of research into the effects of invasive alien plants on native plant pollination via disruption of native mutualisms, there has been little research on the impacts of invasive alien plants directly on bees. Such impacts are likely to vary according to the taxon of plant, the functional specificity of the native bees, and ecosystem context. Conversely, there have been more attempts to document impacts of invasive alien social bees on native bees. Most of these studies only indirectly evaluate competition for resources, have focused on a few native species and findings are sometimes contradictory. However, some studies showed strong negative impacts, suggesting that effects might be species-specific. Additionally, pathogen spillover and reproductive disruption due to interspecific mating has been demonstrated among some closely related taxa. Where we lack unequivocal evidence for impacts however, this should not be interpreted as lack of effect. We recommend that future studies are robustly designed and consider impacts on genetic, species (particularly solitary bees) and ecosystem biodiversity.Apis mellifera / Bombus / non-native species / pollinator / plant invasion

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Pollen nutrition and colony development in honey bees: part 1

Cited by 187 publications

References 55 publications

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

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

Age, caste, and behavior determine the replicative activity of intestinal stem cells in honeybees (Apis mellifera L.)

Ecological impacts of invasive alien species on bees

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