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Manipulating pollen supply in honey bee colonies during the fall does not affect the performance of winter bees

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2012

Heather R. Mattila  and
Gard W. Otis
Heather R. Mattila*
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1
Gard W. Otis
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1
*
1 Correspondence author (e-mail: [email protected]).
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Abstract

Each fall, honey bee (Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae)) colonies in northern temperate regions rear a population of long-lived winter bees that maintains a broodless nest throughout the winter and resumes brood-rearing activities in the spring. Pollen supply in colonies is closely tied to this phenomenon; winter bees sequester large reservoirs of pollen-derived nutrients in their bodies and the brood-rearing capacity of colonies is dictated by the availability of pollen. We determined the effects of manipulating pollen supply during the fall on the number of winter bees present in colonies by spring, their mass and protein content before and after winter, and their capacity to rear brood during the spring. Colonies were either supplemented with or partially deprived of pollen during the fall, while a third group of colonies was not manipulated (control). We found that the performance of winter bees was not enhanced by supplementing colonies with pollen in the fall, nor did worker function suffer if pollen supply was restricted. Similar numbers of winter bees survived to spring in colonies and workers had similar physiology and brood-rearing efficiencies. These results suggest that beekeepers would not benefit by investing in fall pollen supplements to maximize colony growth in early spring.

Résumé

À chaque automne, dans les régions tempérées boréales, les colonies d'abeilles domestiques, Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera : Apidae), produisent une population d'abeilles d'hiver à vie longue qui maintient le nid sans couvain pendant l'hiver et reprend les activités d'élevage des larves au printemps. Les réserves de pollen de la colonie sont de grande importance dans ce phénomène : les abeilles d'hiver emmagasinent dans leur organisme de grandes quantités de nutriments dérivés du pollen et la capacité de la colonie de produire un couvain est déterminée par la disponibilité du pollen. Nous avons déterminé les effets de la manipulation des réserves de pollen durant l'automne sur le nombre d'abeilles d'hiver présentes dans la colonie au printemps, sur leur masse et leur contenu en protéines avant et après l'hiver, ainsi que sur leur capacité d'élever le couvain au printemps. Nous avons fourni du pollen à certaines colonies, enlevé du pollen à d'autres et laissé intactes des colonies témoins. L'addition de pollen à l'automne dans la colonie n'améliore pas la performance des abeilles d'hiver; le retrait de pollen ne réduit pas non plus l'activité des ouvrières. Dans les deux cas, des nombres semblables d'abeilles d'hiver dans la colonie survivent jusqu'au printemps et les ouvrières ont une physiologie et une capacité d'élevage du couvain similaires. Nos résultats indiquent que les apiculteurs n'ont pas d'avantage à ajouter des suppléments de pollen à l'automne pour maximiser la croissance de la colonie tôt au printemps.

[Traduit par la Rédaction]

Type
Articles
Information
The Canadian Entomologist , Volume 139 , Issue 4 , August 2007 , pp. 554 - 563
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 2007

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