返回Google圖書搜尋

Bumble Bee Pollen Foraging Activation

其他書名	Role of Colony Stores and Pollen Quality and Odor
出版	University of California, San Diego, 2008
URL	http://books.google.com.hk/books?id=g9P3DAEACAAJ&hl=&source=gbs_api

註釋Bumble bees, like the closely-related honey bees, can activate nestmates to forage for nectar. However, little is known about how a bumble bee colony regulates pollen collection. Using four colonies of the North American bumble bee, Bombus impatiens, we studied pollen foraging activation and colony-level responses to (1) changes in nest pollen stores and (2) changes in the protein quality of extranidal pollen. We provided pollen of different qualities (50%, 75%, and 100% protein diluted with indigestible alpha-cellulose by mass) in a foraging arena and manipulated pollen nest stores. We present the first demonstration that bumble bees can activate nestmates to forage for pollen alone. Colony foraging levels are tuned to the amount of stored pollen inside the colony and to the protein quality of pollen available outside the colony. Moreover, pollen odor alone is sufficient to increase pollen foraging and pollen pot inspection. We continuously recorded intranidal (within nest) behavior with infrared-illuminated video cameras and found no effect of pollen concentration on the velocity, path length, or nest area traversed by pollen foragers. However, foragers significantly increased pollen pot inspections when pollen odor was pumped into the colony when pollen stores were low. Thus, pollen stores can act as an information center regulating colony-level foraging according to pollen protein quality and colony need.