Raising Male Drones Affects Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) Foraging Behavior

Area of Science:

• Apiculture and Pollination Biology
• Integrated Pest Management
• Insect Social Behavior

Background:

• Honey bees (Apis mellifera) are essential commercial pollinators facing threats from Varroa destructor mites.
• Chemical Varroa treatments can harm bees and hive products, leading to interest in alternative methods like drone comb removal.
• Drone comb removal aims to reduce mite populations by luring them to preferred male bees (drones), but raising drones is protein-intensive.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of drone comb removal on honey bee colony foraging behavior and in-hive worker populations.
• To understand how the nutritional demands of raising drones affect resource allocation in honey bee colonies.
• To provide a framework for studying integrated pest management and social insect sex ratio shifts.

Main Methods:

• Experimental manipulation of drone comb presence in honey bee colonies.
• Monitoring of in-hive worker populations.
• Analysis of returning forager behavior and pollen protein content.

Main Results:

• Raising drones did not significantly affect the in-hive worker population.
• Colonies investing in drone production showed a higher proportion of foragers returning with pollen.
• The crude protein content of collected pollen remained consistent across treatments, indicating increased foraging effort rather than a search for higher-quality resources.

Conclusions:

• Drone comb removal influences foraging behavior by increasing pollen collection efforts.
• While effective for mite control, drone production imposes a significant nutritional cost, potentially stressing colonies.
• Further research is needed to understand pollen resource discrimination and the long-term effects of this integrated pest management strategy.