FORAGING PREFERENCES IN HONEYBEES AFTER EXPERIENCING ADULTERATED POLLEN

LAJAD, ROCÍO; ARENAS, ANDRÉS

Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires

Congreso; VI Congress of the Latin American Association of Chemical Ecology; 2021

Asociación Latino Americana de Ecología Química

Deterrent substances present in food, like toxic and/or bitter compounds, can exert repelling responses in insects. Pollen, the main protein resource for Apis mellifera colonies, may present compounds that induce distasteful and/or malaise experiences in bees. Although honeybee colonies avoid collecting some low-quality pollens, evidence supports that foragers themselves are not able to make foraging decisions based on pollen composition at the food sources. We hypothesize that pollen assessment occurs after pollen is processed inside the nest, likely mediated by young bees, which might enable foragers to learn pollen cues and adjust their preferences to the most suitable pollens. To unveil the mechanisms that enable foragers to learn certain components of pollen, we performed dual-choice experiments with colonies confined in flying cages (9x3x2m). We compared foragers´ preferences for two monofloral-pollen sources after one of them was adulterated with the deterrent amygdalin. The adulterated pollen was offered either: i) to foragers at the pollen source; ii) to all the bees inside the hive; or iii) to young bees transiently isolated from the colony during the treatment. Controls with unadulteratedpollens were included. Interestingly, when the adulterated pollen was experienced directly at the food source (i), foragers did not avoid it, but they did after pollen had been incorporated inside the hive (ii). Experienced young bees alone could not modify responses of inexperienced foragers (iii). Altogether, results suggest that assessment of pollen composition requires the resource to be experienced inside the hive for honey bee foragers to adjust their preferences to the most suitable pollens.