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Updated: Sep 3, 2025

A Proboscis Extension Response Protocol for Investigating Behavioral Plasticity in Insects: Application to Basic, Biomedical, and Agricultural Research

A Proboscis Extension Response Protocol for Investigating Behavioral Plasticity in Insects: Application to Basic, Biomedical, and Agricultural Research

Published on: September 8, 2014

Best practices for instrumenting honey bees.

Phoebe A Koenig^1,2, Kirstin H Petersen³

¹Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14850, USA. pak98@cornell.edu.

Scientific Reports

|July 27, 2022

Summary

Tagging honey bees for tracking requires specific preparation and introduction methods. Introducing nurse bees at night in a cage and releasing foragers in front of their hive maximizes tag retention and bee survival.

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Area of Science:

Ecology
Entomology
Behavioral Ecology

Background:

Honey bees are crucial pollinators and environmental monitors.
Tracking bee foraging behavior requires tagging, but methods are often poorly documented.
High tag loss and low survival rates hinder bee tracking studies.

Purpose of the Study:

To identify optimal methods for tagging honey bees to improve tag retention and survival.
To evaluate factors influencing the success of attaching and retaining tags on bees.
To compare different introduction techniques for tagged nurse bees and foragers.

Main Methods:

Tested six factors affecting nurse honey bee tag presence and retention after hive introduction.
Monitored tagged bees from introduction until foraging age.
Compared two reintroduction methods for tagged foragers: cage introduction vs. unaided return.

Main Results:

Nurse bees introduced in an introduction cage at night showed the highest presence with tags attached.
Glue type significantly impacted tag retention, potentially interacting with tag material.
Foragers released in front of their colony were more likely to be present with tags attached.

Conclusions:

Preparation and introduction techniques are critical for successful honey bee tagging experiments.
Optimizing these methods increases the likelihood of tagged bee survival and tag retention.
Consideration of these factors is essential for reliable bee tracking and monitoring studies.