Hangry bees: Pollen dearth impacts honey bee (Apis mellifera) behavior and physiology.

ABSTRACT: Nutritional deprivation is known to contribute to increased honey bee mortality, physiological stress, aberrant behaviors, and disease incidence. To investigate the effect of a realistic nutritional protein deficiency, we simulated a pollen dearth in half of our experimental colonies by robbing incoming foragers of their pollen loads, the primary source of dietary protein, at the colony entrance. We then conducted temperament assays on each colony weekly for pollen deprived and control counterparts. We also identified the plant species bees foraged from and took various physiological measures of honey bee nutritional status including gland size, lipid quantification, and gene expression to further investigate and explain our behavioral results. We found that colonies deprived of pollen rea

SUBMITTER: Walsh EM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12810904 | biostudies-literature | 2026

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature