TY  - JOUR
A1  - Kaluza, Benjamin F.
A1  - Wallace, Helen M.
A1  - Heard, Tim A.
A1  - Minden, Vanessa
A1  - Klein, Alexandra
A1  - Leonhardt, Sara D.
T1  - Social bees are fitter in more biodiverse environments
JF  - Scientific Reports
N2  - Bee population declines are often linked to human impacts, especially habitat and biodiversity loss, but empirical evidence is lacking. To clarify the link between biodiversity loss and bee decline, we examined how floral diversity affects (reproductive) fitness and population growth of a social stingless bee. For the first time, we related available resource diversity and abundance to resource (quality and quantity) intake and colony reproduction, over more than two years. Our results reveal plant diversity as key driver of bee fitness. Social bee colonies were fitter and their populations grew faster in more florally diverse environments due to a continuous supply of food resources. Colonies responded to high plant diversity with increased resource intake and colony food stores. Our findings thus point to biodiversity loss as main reason for the observed bee decline.
KW  - biodiversity
KW  - ecosystem services
KW  - social bees
KW  - fitness
Y1  - 2018
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-177231
VL  - 8
IS  - 12353
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Ruedenauer, Fabian A.
A1  - Wöhrle, Christine
A1  - Spaethe, Johannes
A1  - Leonhardt, Sara D.
T1  - Do honeybees (Apis mellifera) differentiate between different pollen types?
JF  - PLoS ONE
N2  - Bees receive nectar and pollen as reward for pollinating plants. Pollen of different plant species varies widely in nutritional composition. In order to select pollen of appropriate nutritional quality, bees would benefit if they could distinguish different pollen types. Whether they rely on visual, olfactory and/or chemotactile cues to distinguish between different pollen types, has however been little studied. In this study, we examined whether and how Apis mellifera workers differentiate between almond and apple pollen. We used differential proboscis extension response conditioning with olfactory and chemotactile stimulation, in light and darkness, and in summer and winter bees. We found that honeybees were only able to differentiate between different pollen types, when they could use both chemotactile and olfactory cues. Visual cues further improved learning performance. Summer bees learned faster than winter bees. Our results thus highlight the importance of multisensory information for pollen discrimination.
KW  - pollen
KW  - bees
KW  - honey bees
KW  - conditioned response
KW  - behavioral conditioning
KW  - foraging
KW  - nutrients
KW  - sensory cues
Y1  - 2018
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-177537
VL  - 13
IS  - 11
ER  -