Honey bee (Apis mellifera) nurses do not consume pollens based on their nutritional quality.

ABSTRACT: Honey bee workers (Apis mellifera) consume a variety of pollens to meet the majority of their requirements for protein and lipids. Recent work indicates that honey bees prefer diets that reflect the proper ratio of nutrients necessary for optimal survival and homeostasis. This idea relies on the precept that honey bees evaluate the nutritional composition of the foods provided to them. While this has been shown in bumble bees, the data for honey bees are mixed. Further, there is controversy as to whether foragers can evaluate the nutritional value of pollens, especially if they do not consume it. Here, we focused on nurse workers, who eat most of the pollen coming into the hive. We tested the hypothesis that nurses prefer diets with higher nutritional value. We first determined the nutriti

SUBMITTER: Corby-Harris V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5764376 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature