Bumble bees heat up for high quality pollen
Bumble bees heat up for high quality pollen
复制标题
DOI：
10.1242/jeb.016642
复制
发表时间：
2008-07-15
影响因子：
2.8
通讯作者：
Nieh, James C.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Mapalad, Katherine S.;Leu, Daniel;Nieh, James C.
温度调节在蜜蜂觅食中起着关键作用，允许一些物种在次优温度下觅食。最近，大黄蜂胸部温度（T-th）已被证明随着花蜜碳水化合物含量的增加而增加。然而，花粉对蜜蜂也是至关重要的，其蛋白质质量的差异超过20倍。我们首次证明蜜蜂T-th也与花粉质量相关。我们让来自两个群体的大黄蜂、凤尾花、觅食者收集不同质量的花粉（25%、50%、75%和100%，质量与难以消化的α -纤维素混合）。我们用红外热成像仪测量了觅食者采集完花粉和返回巢穴时的表面T-th。在采集花粉的过程中，觅食蜂的体温明显高于环境温度，并在返回巢穴时保持这种升高的体温。平均而言，每增加25%的花粉蛋白含量，觅食者的温度就比环境高0.4℃。因此，大黄蜂可以根据花粉的质量调整胸廓温度。
Thermoregulation plays a key role in bee foraging, allowing some species to forage in suboptimal temperatures. Recently, bumble bee thoracic temperature (T-th) has been shown to increase with nectar carbohydrate content. However, pollen is also vital to bees and exhibits a greater than 20-fold range in protein quality. We provide the first demonstration that bee T-th is also correlated with pollen quality. We allowed bumble bee, Bombus impatiens, foragers from two colonies to collect pollen varying in quality ( 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% by mass mixed with indigestible alpha-cellulose). We used infrared thermography to measure surface T-th when a forager finished collecting feeder pollen and when she returned to the nest. Foragers significantly elevated their Tth over ambient air temperature while collecting pollen and maintained this elevated T-th upon returning to the nest. On average, foragers increased T-th over ambient by 0.4 C per 25% increase in pollen protein content. Bumble bees can therefore adjust their thoracic temperature according to pollen quality.