Foraging loads of stingless bees and utilisation of stored nectar for pollen harvesting

Sara Leonhardt; K Dworschak; T Eltz; N Bluthgen

doi:10.1051/apido:2006059

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Foraging loads of stingless bees and utilisation of stored nectar for pollen harvesting

Journal article

Peer reviewed

Foraging loads of stingless bees and utilisation of stored nectar for pollen harvesting

Sara Leonhardt, K Dworschak, T Eltz and N Bluthgen

Apidologie, Vol.38(2), pp.125-135

2007

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1051/apido:2006059

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Abstract

Zoology

foraging behaviour

nectar

pollen load

resin

Trigona

We compared nectar, pollen and resin loads of individual workers among colonies from six Trigona species in Sabah, Borneo. Individual bees rarely collected large amounts of both nectar and pollen during the same foraging trip. Instead, comparison of crop contents across departing, flower-visiting, and returning bees suggests that pollen-collecting workers often carried highly concentrated nectar in their crop upon nest departure. During their foraging trip, this crop nectar volume decreased progressively until crops were largely empty when they returned to their nest. Individually marked pollen foragers carried highly concentrated nectar when they left their nest, while crops and corbiculae from marked nectar foragers were empty upon departure. We suggest that a large proportion of previously stored and highly concentrated nectar may be required for pollen adhesion to corbiculae and/or serve as fuel during foraging on nectar-poor flowers.

Details

Title: Foraging loads of stingless bees and utilisation of stored nectar for pollen harvesting
Authors: Sara Leonhardt (Author) - University of Würzburg
K Dworschak (Author) - University of Würzburg
T Eltz (Author) - University of Düsseldorf
N Bluthgen (Author) - University of Würzburg
Publication details: Apidologie, Vol.38(2), pp.125-135
Publisher: Springer France
Date published: 2007
DOI: 10.1051/apido:2006059
ISSN: 0044-8435
Organisation Unit: University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; GeneCology Research Centre - Legacy
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99449904802621
Output Type: Journal article

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Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration
Web Of Science research areas: Entomology

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