From the Lab : 33 THE LATEST IN BEE RESEARCH From the Lab


Food for Pollinators Many ‘pollinator-friendly’ seed mixes are now available commercially and people are being encouraged to plant them to provide food for pollinating insects. The study reported here conducted quantitative surveys of over two million flowers to estimate the nectar and pollen resources that were available from two exemplar commercial seed mixes. One mix was of annuals and the second of perennials. The associated weeds were also included. Meadows measuring 300 m2


were planted in four UK cities. Sixty-five


species were sampled six times between May and September 2013. Native British weeds, including the dandelion, turned out to be the top five nectar producers and two of the top ten pollen producers. Annual meadows were more profitable for pollinators than amenity grassland control areas but up to 20 times more nectar and six times more pollen were available from perennial meadows. The weeds provided most of the nectar and pollen early in the year. Species yielding the highest rewards per flower included Centaurea cyanus (cornflower), C. nigra (knapweed) and Leontodon hispidus (rough hawkbit), for nectar, and Papaver rhoeas (poppy), Eschscholzia californica (Californian poppy) and Malva moschata (musk mallow) for pollen.


Hopefully new seed mixes can be designed to ensure continuity in floral resource availability throughout the year and identify suitable species to fill resource gaps in established mixes.


Reference


Hicks, DM, et al (2016). Food for pollinators: quantifying the nectar and pollen resources of urban flower meadows. PLoS ONE, 11(6): e0158117. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0158117 (http://journals.plos. org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0158117).


Effect of Deformed Wing Virus on Foraging


Microbial pathogens have been blamed for sudden and severe declines in honey bee colony health in the USA and Europe. Researchers at Rothamsted Research measured both distance and duration of active foraging flights using apparently healthy bees from standard colonies. The presence and level of infection by Nosema ceranae did not appear to affect foraging. However, there was a weakly positive relation between flight distance and duration and the


September 2016 Vol 98 No 9


amount of deformed wing virus complex present. Foraging efficiency is likely to be reduced by high levels of the virus within the colony.


Reference Wells, T, et al (2016). Flight performance of actively foraging honey bees is reduced by a common pathogen. Environmental Microbiology Reports. doi: 10.1111/1758- 2229.12434 (http://onlinelibrary. wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1758- 2229.12434/full).


Neonicotinoids as Insect Contraceptives The reproductive capacity of honey bee drones has been shown to be significantly reduced by two neonicotinoids, 4.5 ppb thiamethoxam and 1.5 ppb clothianidin. While body mass and the quantity of sperm were not affected, the drones did not live as long as unaffected ones and the sperm viability and quantity of living sperm were reduced. Widespread prophylactic use of neonicotinoids may be having an inadvertent contraceptive effect on non-target insects.


Reference


Straub, L, et al (2016). Neonicotinoid insecticides can serve as inadvertent insect contraceptives. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 283(1835). doi: 10.1098/rspb.2016.0506 (http://rspb. royalsocietypublishing.org/content/283/1835/20160506).


How Honey Bees Telescope Their Abdomens A team of researchers at


Tsinghua University in Beijing has determined how bees curve their abdomens by examining the morphology and ultrastructure of the folded intersegmental membranes between adjacent abdominal segments. The dorsal membrane is twice as thick as the ventral one, which leads to the asymmetric motion. The membrane structure was


confirmed using a high-speed camera and phase-contrast computed tomography. Reference Zhao, J, Yan, S and Wu, J (2016). Critical structure for telescopic movement of honey bee (Insecta: Apidae) abdomen: folded intersegmental membrane. Journal of Insect Science, 16(1), 8 pages. doi: 10.1093/jisesa/iew049 (http:// jinsectscience.oxfordjournals. org/content/16/1/79).


Novel Method for Observing Hygienic Behaviour The use of observation hives for research purposes has been criticised as putting the bees in an unnatural situation as they would normally be within a dark hive. Using an infra-red camera, researchers in Germany have been able to investigate honey bee behaviour. Workers were shown to follow a systematic sequence of activities when identifying and uncapping cells containing varroa mites. The results support the hypothesis that this is driven by abnormal odours from the parasitised pupae.


Reference Bienefield, K, Zautke, F and Gupta, P (2016). A novel method for undisturbed long-term observation of honey bee (Apis mellifera) behavior – illustrated by hygienic behavior towards varroa infestation. Journal of Apicultural Research, 54(5), 541–547. doi: 10.1080/00218839.2016.1174465 (www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/ 10.1080/00218839.2016.1174465).


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