Harano Ken-ichi, Mitsuhata-Asai Akiko, Sasaki Masami
Honeybee Science Research Center, Tamagawa University, Machida, Tokyo, 194-8610, Japan,
Naturwissenschaften. 2014 Jul;101(7):595-8. doi: 10.1007/s00114-014-1185-z. Epub 2014 Jun 13.
Before foraging honeybees leave the hive, each bee loads its crop with some amount of honey "fuel" depending on the distance to the food source and foraging experience. For pollen collection, there is evidence that foragers carry additional honey as "glue" to build pollen loads. This study examines whether pollen foragers of the European honeybee Apis mellifera regulate the size of the crop load according to food-source distances upon leaving the hive and how foraging experience affects load regulation. The crop contents of bees foraging on crape myrtle Lagerstroemia indica, which has no nectary, were larger than those foraging on nectar from other sources, confirming a previous finding that pollen foragers carry glue in addition to fuel honey from the hive. Crop contents of both waggle dancers and dance followers showed a significant positive correlation with waggle-run durations. These results suggest that bees carry a distance-dependent amount of fuel honey in addition to a fixed amount of glue honey. Crop contents on leaving the hive were statistically larger in dancers than followers. Based on these results, we suggest that pollen foragers use information obtained through foraging experience to adjust crop contents on leaving the hive.
在觅食的蜜蜂离开蜂巢之前，每只蜜蜂都会根据与食物源的距离和觅食经验，在其嗉囊中装载一定量的蜂蜜“燃料”。对于花粉采集，有证据表明，觅食者会携带额外的蜂蜜作为“胶水”来装载花粉。本研究考察了欧洲蜜蜂（Apis mellifera）的花粉觅食者在离开蜂巢时是否会根据食物源距离来调节嗉囊装载量，以及觅食经验如何影响装载量调节。在没有蜜腺的紫薇（Lagerstroemia indica）上觅食的蜜蜂，其嗉囊内容物比在其他来源的花蜜上觅食的蜜蜂更大，这证实了之前的一项发现，即花粉觅食者除了从蜂巢携带作为燃料的蜂蜜外，还会携带“胶水”。摇摆舞蜂和跟随舞蜂的嗉囊内容物都与摇摆舞持续时间呈显著正相关。这些结果表明，蜜蜂除了携带固定量的胶水蜂蜜外，还会携带与距离相关量的燃料蜂蜜。离开蜂巢时，舞者的嗉囊内容物在统计学上比跟随者的更大。基于这些结果，我们认为花粉觅食者利用通过觅食经验获得的信息来调整离开蜂巢时的嗉囊内容物。
