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Adjustment of fuel loads in stingless bees (Melipona subnitida)

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Abstract

Eusocial bee foragers leave their nest with nectar as flight fuel, therewith reducing the risk of starvation during a foraging trip. Yet, the extra mass results in an increase of energetic expenditure for flight. Thus, bees should tune their fuel loads to the respective foraging situation. In the present study, we investigated the fuel adjustment in the Brazilian stingless bee Melipona subnitida (Apidae, Meliponini). Specifically, we examined whether foragers of this species increase their fuel loads when they have low expectation for nectar collection during a foraging trip. Crop load measurements revealed that nectar foragers carried significantly less fuel on departing the nest than foragers collecting either pollen, clay, or resin. Surprisingly, 75% of nectar foragers left the nest without any detectable amount of nectar, which suggests that the majority of bees collected at nearby nectar sources and avoided an increase in foraging costs. Moreover, foragers increased their fuel loading when repeatedly experiencing empty food sources that had previously been rewarding. These results support our hypothesis and demonstrate that the capability of fuel adjustment is not restricted to honey bees.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank two anonymous referees for their valuable comments and suggestions. We also thank Dr. Shinya Hayashi for statistical support. This study was partially supported by a long-term training program of Tamagawa University and a JSPS (Japan Society of the Promotion of Science) Kakenhi Grant Number 17K08154 to KH.

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Author notes

  1. Camila Maia-Silva

    Present address: Departamento de Zootecnia, Centro de Ciências Agrárias, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, CE, 60440-900, Brazil

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Honeybee Science Research Center, Tamagawa University, Machida, Tokyo, 194-8610, Japan

    Ken-ichi Harano

  2. Departamento de Biociências, Universidade Federal Rural do Semi-Árido, Mossoró, RN, 59625-900, Brazil

    Camila Maia-Silva & Michael Hrncir

  3. Departamento de Fisiologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, 05508-900, Brazil

    Michael Hrncir

Authors
  1. Ken-ichi Harano
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  2. Camila Maia-Silva
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  3. Michael Hrncir
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Contributions

KH contributed to the study conception and design. CM-S and MH performed material preparation. KH performed data collection and analysis. KH and MH wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Ken-ichi Harano.

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Fig. S1

Crop volume of Melipona subnitida foragers upon arriving at a feeder. The feeder provides sugar solution during feeding time in feeding period but not in post-feeding period. See text for details. Numbers in parentheses are sample sizes. Error bars indicate standard errors. Different letters on bars indicate significant differences detected by Steel–Dwass test (P < 0.05)

Fig. S2

Concentration of crop content of Melipona subnitida foragers upon arriving at a feeder. The feeder provides sugar solution during feeding time in feeding period but not in post-feeding period. See text for details. Numbers in parentheses are sample sizes. Error bars indicate standard errors. Different letters on bars indicate significant differences detected by Steel–Dwass test (P < 0.05)

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Harano, Ki., Maia-Silva, C. & Hrncir, M. Adjustment of fuel loads in stingless bees (Melipona subnitida). J Comp Physiol A 206, 85–94 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-019-01398-2

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