Subjective evaluation of defensive behavior in the Syrian honeybee (Apis mellifera syriaca)

Abstract

a b s t r a c t to separate gentle from defensive bee types, a rating scale is the most reliable, economical, and practical evaluation system. in initiating a breeding programme for the indigenous Syrian honeybee apis mellifera syriaca, a typical representative of the endangered subspecies of the middle east, multiple measurements were used to generally monitor this behavior and verify whether the international apimondia recommendations are suitable for such subspecies. a total of 72 beekeepers and three breeding centers provided performancetesting results from 969 colonies distributed throughout 75 apiaries in Syria. each colony was tested, on average, 4.73 times (4584 records total). the defensive behavior of a. m. syriaca was found to be very aggressive (1.48 scored by a system ranging from 1 (aggressive) to 4 (gentle)). the low repeatability (0.19) of defensive behavior estimated using restricted maximal likelihood analysis and the low and skewed variation of the trait indicate that other scoring systems are expected to be more efficient for selective breeding towards gentle behavior.

Estimates of genetic parameters for production, behaviour, and health traits in two Swiss honey bee populations

“…In order to improve the assessment of calmness during inspection and defensive behaviour in SAR, we suggest evaluating the colonies by using the full scale from 1 to 4 for relative ranking to better discriminate the best colonies. This had already been suggested to more efficiently select for low defensive behaviour in an extremely aggressive A. m. syriaca population (Zakour and Bienefeld 2013). If almost no variability can be detected in the field for some traits, for instance when all colonies are very close to the optimum, other approaches could be preferred, such as removing the few colonies with low performance from the programme.…”

Agonistic interactions between the honeybee (Apis mellifera ligustica) and the European wasp (Vespula germanica) reveal context-dependent defense strategies

“…It follows that an understanding of agonistic behavioral displays in A . mellifera against natural enemies could be used to develop more effective tests to replace the current evaluation methods, which have been called into question [ 47 ]. Indeed, the method recommended by Apimondia (International Federation of Beekeepers’ Associations) is based on subjective evaluation by the operator on a four-point scale, where one point is assigned to the most aggressive bees and four points to the most docile, thus indicating the protective equipment the beekeeper must use [ 48 ].…”

Apis mellifera adansonii Is the Most Defensive Honeybee in Uganda

“…Both the gloves and the overalls were washed before use in the next apiary. The defensive behaviour was scored as 1 = >10 bee stings (very defensive), 2 = 6 -9 bee stings (moderate), and 3 = 0 -5 bee stings (gentle) [10,23]. The vegetation cover around each apiary was observed and recorded as 1 = thick; 2 = moderate; 3 = sparse.…”

“…Honeybee colony defense is a social behaviour in which individual honeybees exhibit complicated pattern of actions and a variety of traits such as defensiveness (aggressiveness), gentleness, or docility [6,9,10]. It involves individual worker bee behaviour and a coordinated colony response with a group effect [8].…”