Social benefits require a community: the influence of colony size on behavioral immunity in honey bees

Bonoan, Rachael E.; Feliciano, Paola M. Iglesias; Chang, Joanna; Starks, Philip T.

doi:10.1007/s13592-020-00754-5

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Starks et al [20] laid the foundation for understanding the phenomenon of behavioral, or social fever, as a response to challenge with the fungal pathogen, A. apis, in honey bees. Few studies have since followed this report, describing a novel form of social immunity [21,29]. Results from our study affirmed that honey bees increase the temperature of the brood nest after exposure to A. apis.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

“…After experimental inoculation of small colonies with A. apis [20], a modest (but significant) deviation from expected brood temperature (+0.56 • C) was observed, which suggested that adult workers generate a behavioral fever. Ascosphaera apis is temperature-sensitive; therefore, the adult-driven increase in brood nest temperature was hypothesized to kill the pathogen and prevent its spread among uninfected immature nestmates [20,21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Social Fever or General Immune Response? Revisiting an Example of Social Immunity in Honey Bees

Goblirsch

Warner

Sommerfeldt

et al. 2020

Insects

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Honey bees use several strategies to protect themselves and the colony from parasites and pathogens. In addition to individual immunity, social immunity involves the cumulative effort of some individuals to limit the spread of parasites and pathogens to uninfected nestmates. Examples of social immunity in honey bees that have received attention include hygienic behavior, or the removal of diseased brood, and the collection and deposition of antimicrobial resins (propolis) on interior nest surfaces. Advances in our understanding of another form of social immunity, social fever, are lacking. Honey bees were shown to raise the temperature of the nest in response to temperature-sensitive brood pathogen, Ascosphaera apis. The increase in nest temperature (−0.6 °C) is thought to limit the spread of A. apis infection to uninfected immatures. We established observation hives and monitored the temperature of the brood nest for 40 days. This observation period was broken into five distinct segments, corresponding to sucrose solution feedings—Pre-Feed, Feed I, Challenge, Feed II, and Post-Feed. Ascosphaera apis was administered to colonies as a 1% solution of ground sporulating chalkbrood mummies in 50% v/v sucrose solution, during the Challenge period. Like previous reports, we observed a modest increase in brood nest temperature during the Challenge period. However, all hives presented signs of chalkbrood disease, suggesting that elevation of the nest temperature was not sufficient to stop the spread of infection among immatures. We also began to explore the molecular mechanisms of temperature increase by exposing adult bees in cages to A. apis, without the presence of immatures. Compared to adult workers who were given sucrose solution only, workers exposed to A. apis showed increased expression of the antimicrobial peptides abaecin (p = 0.07) and hymenoptaecin (p = 0.04), but expression of the heat shock response protein Hsp 70Ab-like (p = 0.76) and the nutritional marker vitellogenin (p = 0.72) were unaffected. These results indicate that adult honey bee workers exposed to a brood pathogen elevate the temperature of the brood nest and initiate an immune response, but the effect of this fever on preventing disease requires further study.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Fever or General Immune Response? Revisiting an Example of Social Immunity in Honey Bees

Goblirsch

Warner

Sommerfeldt

et al. 2020

Insects

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“…Відомо, що бджолині колонії, особливо у весняноосінній періоди, вразливі щодо збудників бактеріальних та вірусних інфекцій. Після зимівлі суттєво зни-жується рівень напруженості колективного імунітету бджіл (Bonoan et al, 2020;Harwood et al, 2021;Laomettachit et al, 2021;Morfin et al, 2021), що призводить до порушень у роботі їхньої травної системи з проявами діареї (Kešnerová et al, 2020;Lakhman et al, 2021). Синдром диспепсії у бджіл характеризується різким зниженням продуктивності, що суттєво впливає на рівень рентабельності приватних пасік.…”

Section: вступunclassified

Resistance of a mixed bacterial culture isolated from bee dysbiosis to disinfectant in laboratory conditions

Lakhman,

Romanishina,

Zastulka

et al. 2024

SMLNUVMB

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Disinfection is one of the components of preventive actions to prevent disease in animals by infectious agents. Through the elimination of agents of infectious diseases in the environment, it is able to interrupt the mechanisms of the epizootic process. For the development of beekeeping and obtaining quality and products, it is necessary to carry out activities in apiaries, which include disinfection. The introduction of new disinfectants in the field is possible after preliminary laboratory tests. The aim of our research objective to investigate the resistance of a mixed bacterial culture isolated from bees with the symptoms of dysbiosis to disinfectant under laboratory conditions. Bacteriological investigations carried out in Petri dishes using meat-peptone agar and Mueller-Hinton agar. The disinfectant diluted with distilled water at concentrations of 0.25 %, 0.5 %, 1,25 % and 2,5 %. On the Mueller Hinton agar, the bacterial elimination zones recorded at 1.25 % (11,6 ± 0,45 mm) and 2.5 % (12,4 ± 0,27 mm) concentration of disinfectant at 1 day of investigation, and 7,4 ± 0,27 mm (1,25 %), 11,2 ± 0,42 mm (2.5 %) at 72 hours of the experiment, respectively. In addition, the bacterial growth inhibition effect increased with experimental time and ranged from 24.0 ± 0.35 mm (0.5 %) to 28.2 ± 0.22 mm (2.5 %) on day 3 of the study. Bacteriostatic and bactericidal effects appeared to be less pronounced on meat-peptone agar. The highest diameters of inhibition of the processes of reproduction and development of microorganisms from mixed microbial association on this medium were recorded at 1.25 % and 2.5 % concentrations of the disinfectant at the 3rd day of the investigation with diameters of the zones of inhibition of growth 15.6 ± 0.45 mm and 26.4 ± 0.27 mm, respectively. The specificity of diffusion of the investigated active substance from the discs into the agar medium thickness was also noted. This effect has a varying effect on infectious agents in in vitro experiments. Thus bacteriological laboratory experiments should be performed on several culture media in purpose of obtaining accurate results. The analysis of the obtained results indicates the demonstration of antimicrobial effect of the investigated disinfectant against mixed bacterial culture in the form of bactericidal and bacteriostatic actions. Therefore, a promising direction of research for veterinary doctors and apiary business owners is the search for effective and efficient disinfectants. Laboratory investigation of the activity of a remedy are the first step before it is approbation.

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“…Honey bee colonies may also behaviorally increase their temperature to induce a "fever" which is hypothesized to be a generalized response to illness, particularly in large colonies (Simone-Finstrom et al, 2014;Bonoan et al, 2020). Colonies with the fungal infection Ascosphaera apis behaviorally increase their temperature (Starks et al, 2000), while individuals infected by Nosema ceranae seek high temperature areas within the colony (Campbell et al, 2010).…”

Section: Mechanisms For Warming the Hivementioning

confidence: 99%

The organizational impact of chronic heat: diffuse brood comb and decreased carbohydrate stores in honey bee colonies

Weinberg,

Wetzel,

Kuchar

et al. 2023

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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Insect pollinators are vital to the stability of a broad range of both natural and anthropogenic ecosystems and add billions of dollars to the economy each year. Honey bees are perhaps the best studied insect pollinator due to their economic and cultural importance. Of particular interest to researchers are the wide variety of mechanisms honey bees use for thermoregulation, such as fanning cool air currents around the hive and careful selection of insulated nest sites. These behaviors help honey bees remain active through both winter freezes and summer heatwaves, and may allow honey bees to deal with the ongoing climate crisis more readily than other insect species. Surprisingly, little is known about how honey bee colonies manage chronic heat stress. Here we provide a review of honey bee conservation behavior as it pertains to thermoregulation, and then present a novel behavior displayed in honey bees—the alteration of comb arrangement in response to 6 weeks of increased hive temperature. We found that while overall quantities of brood remained stable between treatments, brood were distributed more diffusely throughout heated hives. We also found that heated hives contained significantly less honey and nectar stores than control hives, likely indicating an increase in energy expenditure. Our results support previous findings that temperature gradients play a role in how honey bees arrange their comb contents, and improves our understanding of how honey bees modify their behavior to survive extreme environmental challenges.

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Social benefits require a community: the influence of colony size on behavioral immunity in honey bees

Cited by 6 publications

References 23 publications

Social Fever or General Immune Response? Revisiting an Example of Social Immunity in Honey Bees

Social Fever or General Immune Response? Revisiting an Example of Social Immunity in Honey Bees

Resistance of a mixed bacterial culture isolated from bee dysbiosis to disinfectant in laboratory conditions

The organizational impact of chronic heat: diffuse brood comb and decreased carbohydrate stores in honey bee colonies

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