title: Comparative sucrose responsiveness in Apis mellifera and A. cerana foragers.
abstract: In the European honey bee, Apis mellifera, pollen foragers have a higher sucrose responsiveness than nectar foragers when tested using a proboscis extension response (PER) assay. In addition, Africanized honey bees have a higher sucrose responsiveness than European honey bees. Based on the biology of the Eastern honey bee, A. cerana, we hypothesized that A. cerana should also have a higher responsiveness to sucrose than A. mellifera. To test this hypothesis, we compared the sucrose thresholds of pollen foragers and nectar foragers in both A. cerana and A. mellifera in Fujian Province, China. Pollen foragers were more responsive to sucrose than nectar foragers in both species, consistent with previous studies. However, contrary to our hypothesis, A. mellifera was more responsive than A. cerana. We also demonstrated that this higher sucrose responsiveness in A. mellifera was not due to differences in the colony environment by co-fostering two species of bees in the same mixed-species colonies. Because A. mellifera foragers were more responsive to sucrose, we predicted that their nectar foragers should bring in less concentrated nectar compared to that of A. cerana. However, we found no differences between the two species. We conclude that A. cerana shows a different pattern in sucrose responsiveness from that of Africanized bees. There may be other mechanisms that enable A. cerana to perform well in areas with sparse nectar resources.
authors.affiliation: College of Honey Bee Science, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, Fujian, China.
authors.forename: Wenchao
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Haiou
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kuang
authors.forename: Shanshan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Zhenhong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Yuanyuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Zachary Y
authors.initials: ZY
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Xiaoqing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Miao
mesh_terms: D000220:Adaptation, Biological / Q000502:physiology; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000502:physiology*; D002681:China; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D057048:Plant Nectar; D011058:Pollen; D013045:Species Specificity; D013395:Sucrose / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D057048:Plant Nectar; D013395:Sucrose