Deformed wing virus affects foraging success and foraging specialization of honeybee workers.

ABSTRACT: Deformed wing virus (DWV) is a major driver of honeybee colony losses, yet its sublethal effects on adult foraging behaviour remain underexplored. Building on evidence that covert DWV infections impair sucrose responsiveness and associative learning, we tested whether infection changes foraging success and specialization in worker bees. Using a controlled experiment, we marked 1,000 newly emerged workers that were either inoculated with DWV lysate or injected with an RNA-interference control that suppressed viral replication. Foraging activity, success, and specialization were recorded. Our results show that DWV-infected bees began foraging earlier ("precocious foraging") and had higher mortality, reducing their lifespan as foragers. Furthermore, infected nectar foragers were significantly

SUBMITTER: Ferreira HM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12808175 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature