Gordon D. Waller

Honeybee Responses to Sugar Solutions of Different Compositions

SummaryHoneybee foragers were caught as they returned to their hive. Each was mounted by the dorsum on a wire, and after 45 minutes was offered two sugar solutions alternately. Bees that made a choice (e.g. imbibing one solution after rejecting the other) most often preferred sucrose to either glucose or fructose. A mixture of equal parts of sucrose, glucose and fructose was, like other mixtures tested, less attractive than sucrose or a mixture in which sucrose was dominant.

Effects of dimethoate on honey bee foraging

Abstract Collection by honey bees of sucrose solutions treated with dimethoate continued uninterrupted until 2.9–3.9 μg/bee had been accumulated. This self-limiting dose was 20–25 times the oral LD50 for honey bees. Therefore a mean of 45 collection trips involving 1 ppm dimethoate or 11 trips involving 5 ppm was possible before foraging ceased. Losses in pollinator effectiveness and adult and larval mortality are likely to result from dimethoate contamination of nectar.

Olfactory Discrimination by Honeybees of Terpenes Identified from Volatiles of Alfalfa Flowers

SummaryHoneybees conditioned to respond to the scent of flowers of alfalfa clone 2490 and of sainfoin responded positively to the scents of ocimene, myrcene and limonene, but not to linalool; bees conditioned to the scent of flowers of alfalfa clone 2B did not respond significantly to the scent of any of these substances, however.Bees conditioned to the scent of ocimene, myrcene, or limonene responded positively to the flower scents of 6 of the 8 alfalfa (Medicago sativa) clones tested. Bees conditioned with linalool responded negatively to alfalfa flower scents. The first three of these terpenes appeared to be indistinguishable to the bees, but linalool was distinguished from the other three. The authors conclude that certain clones will be reproductively isolated by the assortive pollination of honeybees responding to differences in flower scents.

Attracting Honeybees to Alfalfa with Citral, Geraniol and Anise

SummaryWhen plots of alfalfa (Medicago sativa) were sprayed with citral, geraniol, anise, and sucrose in factorial treatment-combinations, plots treated with two or three scents in sucrose solution were more attractive to honeybees than plots treated with only one scent. Geraniol was generally more attractive than citral when it was applied in a solution containing 5 or 10% sucrose, but less attractive than citral when applied in water. The synergistic effect between citral and geraniol was no greater than that between citral and anise or geraniol and anise.

Mortality of Honeybees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) Exposed to Permethrin and Combinations of Permethrin with Piperonyl Butoxide

SummaryA laboratory study was conducted to test the pyrethroid insecticide, permethrin, separately and in combination with piperonyl butoxide (PB) at ratios of 1 part insecticide to 4 and 9 parts PB. Foraging honeybees, Apis mellifera L., were exposed to treated filter paper to determine toxicity and synergistic effects between the binary mixtures. Mortality was recorded 48 h after treatment. Permethrin used alone was highly toxic to the bees. PB synergized permethrin at both ratios, increasing the efficacy of permethrin, 9-fold. Combinations of permethrin and PB may merit testing in field situations to determine the actual hazard to honeybees.

Stimulative Feeding of Honeybee Colonies in Arizona

SummaryThe egg production of 5-frame colonies of honeybees, kept in cages to prevent pollen collection and fed supplemental carbohydrates, bore a direct relationship to the amount of carbohydrate consumed. After 3 days, but not subsequently, the groups fed Beevert or sugar syrup had significantly more brood than those fed with Drivert or Subvert.Other 5-frame experimental colonies, that were allowed free flight and were continuously fed pollen-substitute candy, had more brood at the end of the 33-day test period if they also received carbohydrates than if they did not.Colonies in commercial apiaries reared more brood when they were given either pollen substitute or carbohydrates, or both, than if they received neither. Honey production was also significantly increased by the pollen substitute, but not by the supplemental carbohydrates.

The molecular basis for scent discrimination: Response to nitrobenzene-d5 of honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) conditioned with nitrobenzene

Honigbienen,Apis mellifera L., wurden dressiert, Zuckersirup an Stellen zu sammeln die mit Nitrobenzol markiert waren. Wenn Nitrobenzol oder Nitrobenzol-d 5 zur Auswahl standen, konnten die Bienen nicht zwischen diesen Analogen unterscheiden. Dieses Ergebnis stimmt mit der Überlegung überein, dass die Chemorezeptormechanismen mit Elektronenmustern odereffekten zusammenhängen und nicht auf Oszillations-und Rotationsfrequenz, Dipolmoment oder anderen Masseneffekten an Molekülen beruhen.

Use Of Honey-Sac Load and Dance Characteristics of Worker Honeybees to Determine Their Sugar Preferences

SummaryFrequency of dancing by returning honeybees (Apis mellifera) was shown to be positively correlated with concentration of sugar solution they had collected. Also, sucrose resulted in more dances than fructose, which in turn led to more dances than glucose.Amounts of these three sugars collected, when offered alone and in various combinations, showed sucrose to be the most acceptable sugar and glucose to be generally the least acceptable. However, at concentrations of 40% and 50% bees collected larger loads of glucose than of fructose. Mixtures of equal parts sucrose, glucose and fructose were collected in loads not significantly different in volume from other mixtures of these sugars.

The Effect of Citral and Geraniol Conditioning on the Searching Activity of Honeybee Recruits

SummaryTen forager honeybees from Caucasian and from Cordovan mutant Italian colonies in a wire-screen flight cage were marked, and conditioned to collect sucrose solution placed above petri dishes scented with citral or geraniol. Recruits from colonies conditioned to citral alone or to geraniol alone were attracted to the training scent in greater numbers when it was presented alone than when in combination with the other scent; very few were attracted to the other scent alone or to the unscented dishes. A large number of recruits from a wild-type Italian colony conditioned to citral + geraniol were attracted to dishes with the combination of scents and fewer to dishes with a single scent. Recruits from the same colony were not attracted to any of the scented dishes while its foragers were conditioned to gather sucrose from an unscented training station.