Colony-Level Viral Load Influences Collective Foraging in Honey Bees.

ABSTRACT: Nutrition is an important component of social insect colony health especially in the face of stressors such as parasitism and viral infections. Honey bees are known to preferentially select nectar and pollen based on macronutrient and phytochemical contents and in response to pathogen loads. However, given that honey bees live in colonies, collective foraging decisions may be impacted directly by forager infection status but also by colony health. This field experiment was conducted to determine if honey bee viral infections are correlated with pollen and nectar foraging and if these associations are impacted more by colony or forager infection. By comparing regressions with and without forager and colony variables and through structural equation models, we were able to determine the relat

SUBMITTER: Penn HJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10926460 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature