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- Title
Individual honey bee (Apis cerana) foragers adjust their fuel load to match variability in forage reward.
- Authors
Tan, Ken; Latty, Tanya; Dong, Shihao; Liu, Xiwen; Wang, Chao; Oldroyd, Benjamin P.
- Abstract
Animals may adjust their behavior according to their perception of risk. Here we show that free-flying honey bee (Apis cerana) foragers mitigate the risk of starvation in the field when foraging on a food source that offers variable rewards by carrying more 'fuel' food on their outward journey. We trained foragers to a feeder located 1.2 km from each of four colonies. On average foragers carried 12.7% greater volume of fuel, equivalent to 30.2% more glucose when foraging on a variable source (a random sequence of 0.5, 1.5 and 2.5 M sucrose solution, average sucrose content 1.5 M) than when forging on a consistent source (constant 1.5 M sucrose solution). Our findings complement an earlier study that showed that foragers decrease their fuel load as they become more familiar with a foraging place. We suggest that honey bee foragers are risk sensitive, and carry more fuel to minimize the risk of starvation in the field when a foraging trip is perceived as being risky, either because the forager is unfamiliar with the foraging site, or because the forage available at a familiar site offers variable rewards.
- Subjects
APIS cerana; FORAGING behavior; SUCROSE; STARVATION; HONEYBEE behavior; PREVENTION
- Publication
Scientific Reports, 2015, p16418
- ISSN
2045-2322
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1038/srep16418