The Effect of Foraging on Bumble Bees, Bombus terrestris, Reared under Laboratory Conditions.

ABSTRACT: Bumble bees are important pollinators broadly used by farmers in greenhouses and under conditions in which honeybee pollination is limited. As such, bumble bees are increasingly being reared for commercial purposes, which brings into question whether individuals reared under laboratory conditions are fully capable of physiological adaptation to field conditions. To understand the changes in bumble bee organism caused by foraging, we compared the fundamental physiological and immunological parameters of Bombus terrestris workers reared under constant optimal laboratory conditions with workers from sister colonies that were allowed to forage for two weeks in the field. Nutritional status and immune response were further determined in wild foragers of B.terrestris that lived under the constan

SUBMITTER: Dobes P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7290516 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature