title: Individual honey bee (Apis cerana) foragers adjust their fuel load to match variability in forage reward.
abstract: Animals may adjust their behavior according to their perception of risk. Here we show that free-flying honey bee (Apis cerana) foragers mitigate the risk of starvation in the field when foraging on a food source that offers variable rewards by carrying more 'fuel' food on their outward journey. We trained foragers to a feeder located 1.2 km from each of four colonies. On average foragers carried 12.7% greater volume of fuel, equivalent to 30.2% more glucose when foraging on a variable source (a random sequence of 0.5, 1.5 and 2.5 M sucrose solution, average sucrose content 1.5 M) than when forging on a consistent source (constant 1.5 M sucrose solution). Our findings complement an earlier study that showed that foragers decrease their fuel load as they become more familiar with a foraging place. We suggest that honey bee foragers are risk sensitive, and carry more fuel to minimize the risk of starvation in the field when a foraging trip is perceived as being risky, either because the forager is unfamiliar with the foraging site, or because the forage available at a familiar site offers variable rewards.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanic Garden, Chinese Academy of Science, Kunming, Yunnan Province, People's Republic of China.|Eastern Bee Research Institute, of Yunnan Agricultural University, Heilongtan, Kunming, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, Australian Technology Park, University of Sydney, NSW 2015, Australia.
authors.forename: Tanya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Latty
authors.affiliation: Eastern Bee Research Institute, of Yunnan Agricultural University, Heilongtan, Kunming, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Shihao
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Eastern Bee Research Institute, of Yunnan Agricultural University, Heilongtan, Kunming, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xiwen
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Eastern Bee Research Institute, of Yunnan Agricultural University, Heilongtan, Kunming, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Behavior and Genetics of Social Insects Laboratory, Macleay Building A12, School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
authors.forename: Benjamin P
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Oldroyd
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000502:physiology*; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D013395:Sucrose / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D013395:Sucrose