Seasonality of salt foraging in honey bees (Apis mellifera)
Seasonality of salt foraging in honey bees (Apis mellifera)
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DOI：
10.1111/een.12375
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发表时间：
2017-04-01
影响因子：
2.2
通讯作者：
Starks, Philip T.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Bonoan, Rachael E.;Tai, Taylor M.;Starks, Philip T.
1.蜜蜂（Apis mellifera）喜欢在富含化合物的“脏”水源而不是清洁水源觅食。由于蜜蜂的主要花卉饮食只含有微量的微量营养素-可能不足以维持整个殖民地-有人假设蜜蜂在脏水中觅食生理必需的矿物质，它们的花卉饮食，因此殖民地，可能缺乏。虽然有许多关于蜜蜂的大量营养素需求的研究，但很少有研究微量营养素需求。在这项研究中，从2013年到2015年，在夏季和秋季进行了一系列偏好测定。在所有领域的季节，蜜蜂表现出强烈的偏好钠相比，去离子水。然而，季节之间对其他矿物质的偏好有明显的变化。钙、镁和钾这三种花粉中最常见的矿物质在秋季花粉稀少时是首选，但在夏季花粉丰富时则被避免。因此，随着花卉资源的分布和丰富程度的变化，蜜蜂也同样改变了它们对水的觅食偏好。我们的数据表明，虽然他们是相对较少的味觉受体基因的通才，蜜蜂觅食微调，以寻找微量营养素。这种能力可能有助于觅食蚁为整个殖民地寻找均衡的饮食。
1. Honey bees (Apis mellifera) prefer foraging at compound-rich, `dirty', water sources over clean water sources. As a honey bee's main floral diet only contains trace amounts of micronutrients-likely not enough to sustain an entire colony-it was hypothesised that honey bees forage in dirty water for physiologically essential minerals that their floral diet, and thus the colony, may lack.2. While there are many studies regarding macronutrient requirements of honey bees, few investigate micronutrient needs. For this study, from 2013 to 2015, a series of preference assays were conducted in both summer and autumn.3. During all field seasons, honey bees exhibited a strong preference for sodium in comparison to deionised water. There was, however, a notable switch in preferences for other minerals between seasons.4. Calcium, magnesium, and potassium-three minerals most commonly found in pollen-were preferred in autumn when pollen was scarce, but were avoided in summer when pollen was abundant. Thus, as floral resources change in distribution and abundance, honey bees similarly change their water-foraging preferences.5. Our data suggest that, although they are generalists with relatively few gustatory receptor genes, honey bee foragers are fine-tuned to search for micronutrients. This ability likely helps the foragers in their search for a balanced diet for the colony as a whole.