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Updated: Apr 19, 2026
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Methods for Comparing Nutrients in Beebread Made by Africanized and European Honey Bees and the Effects on Hemolymph Protein Titers
Published on: March 17, 2015
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Honeybee nutrition is linked to landscape composition
Philip Donkersley1, Glenn Rhodes2, Roger W Pickup3
1Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University Lancaster, LA1 4YQ, U.K.
Ecology and Evolution
|December 16, 2014
Summary
Honeybee beebread nutrition, particularly protein, varies with local land use. This suggests landscape composition impacts pollinator health and nutritional ecology.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Nutritional Science
- Agricultural Science
Background:
- Insect pollinator populations, including honeybees, are declining in Europe.
- Pollinator health is intrinsically linked to the availability and nutritional quality of floral resources like nectar and pollen.
- Landscape composition significantly influences floral resource availability.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the nutritional composition of beebread from managed honeybee hives.
- To investigate the correlation between beebread's nutritional makeup and local land use patterns.
- To understand how landscape composition affects the nutritional ecology of honeybees.
Main Methods:
- Stratified analysis of beebread nutritional components (starch, lipid, moisture, protein, sugars).
- Quantification of local land use using Countryside Survey 2007 Land Cover Map data.
- Statistical correlation analysis between beebread composition and land cover types within a 3 Km² radius.
Main Results:
- Starch, lipid, and moisture content in beebread were consistent across hives.
- Protein and non-reducing sugar levels increased throughout the year; reducing sugars showed a more complex seasonal pattern.
- Beebread protein content was negatively correlated with arable/horticultural land and positively with grasslands/broadleaf woodlands.
- Reducing sugar content positively correlated with broad-leaved woodland cover.
Conclusions:
- Beebread's nutritional profile, especially protein, is influenced by surrounding land use and floral resources.
- Landscape composition may directly impact honeybee well-being through nutritional pathways.
- This study establishes a link between landscape ecology and the nutritional ecology of social foraging insects like honeybees.
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