Effects of land use on resource partitioning and foraging neuroecology in four honey bee species in India

西方蜜蜂（Apis mellifera）一直是神经行为学研究的重要模式生物，而蜜蜂生态学的研究却很少受到关注。蜜蜂精心的劳动分工和高效的舞蹈语言是研究社会行为对食物资源可用性的适应的理想行为综合征。蜜蜂属包括三个主要类群：洞穴筑巢蜜蜂、侏儒蜜蜂和巨型蜜蜂。虽然西方蜜蜂的行为和生态学已经被研究得相当详细，但对其他只出现在亚洲的蜜蜂物种的觅食生态学和劳动分工几乎一无所知。印度南部为研究亚洲和西方蜜蜂提供了独特的条件。与我们的印度合作伙伴Hema Somanathan教授（印度特里凡得琅的IISER）一起，我们的目标是对印度南部自然和人类改造景观中所有三个蜜蜂群体的觅食生态和社会组织进行深入的比较研究。我们将重点介绍大蜜蜂（Apis dorsata）、矮蜜蜂（Apis florea）和洞栖亚洲蜜蜂（Apis cerana）以及引进的西方蜜蜂（Apis mellifera）。我们的目的是了解景观结构的变化如何影响觅食距离，舞蹈方言，以及四个物种的空间分布，组成和质量的开发花卉资源。我们的研究结果是一个重要的先决条件，构建植物授粉网络沿着土地利用梯度在印度。我们进一步的目标是解开觅食劳动的组织在四种蜜蜂在不同的景观，并希望确定行为组织的基本机制，在不同层次的系统。在神经生态学方法中，我们希望了解不同景观对不同蜜蜂物种大脑中神经递质信号传导和觅食相关决策的影响。因此，建议的项目将获得重要的新的见解觅食生态和社会组织的三个密切相关的亚洲蜜蜂物种和引进西方蜜蜂在一个地区，这被认为是蜜蜂进化的中心。我们的研究结果将进一步揭示重要的新见解景观组成，大脑信号和决策之间的关系。我们将提供有关印度不同景观中蜜蜂资源利用的宝贵知识，从而有助于在未来全球变化的条件下保护蜜蜂。

The Western honeybee (Apis mellifera) has long been a pivotal model organism in neuroethology, whereas the ecology of honeybees has attracted less attention. The elaborate division of labour and the highly efficient dance language of honeybees are ideal behavioural syndromes for studying adaptation of social behaviour to food resource availability. The genus Apis comprises three major groups: cavity-nesting honeybees, dwarf honeybees and giant honeybees. Whereas the behaviour and ecology of the Western honeybee has been studied in some detail, next to nothing is known about the foraging ecology and division of labour for other Apis species, which only occur in Asia. Southern India provides unique conditions for studying both Asian and Western honeybees in the same habitats. Together with our Indian partner, Prof. Hema Somanathan (IISER Trivandrum, India), we aim to conduct an in-depth comparative study on the foraging ecology and social organisation of representatives of all three Apis groups in natural and human-modified landscapes in Southern India. We will focus on the giant honeybee (Apis dorsata), the dwarf honeybee (Apis florea) and the cavity-dwelling Asian honeybee (Apis cerana) as well as the introduced Western honeybee (Apis mellifera). We aim to understand how changes in landscape structure affect foraging distances, dance dialects, and the spatial distribution, composition and quality of exploited floral resources of the four species. Our results are an important prerequisite for constructing plant-pollinator networks along land use gradients in India. We further aim to unravel the organisation of foraging labour in the four Apis species in different landscapes and want to identify the underlying mechanisms of behavioural organisation on different levels of the system. In a neuroecological approach, we want to understand the effects of different landscapes on neurotransmitter signalling in the brain and foraging-related decision making in the different honeybee species. The suggested project will thus gain important novel insights into the foraging ecology and social organisation of the three closely related Asian honeybee species and the introduced Western honeybee in a region, which is assumed to be the centre of honeybee evolution. Our results will further reveal important new insight into relationships between landscape composition, brain signalling and decision-making. We will provide valuable knowledge on the resource use of honeybees in different landscapes of India and thereby contribute to their protection under future conditions of global change.