Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The same, but different: pollen foraging in honeybee and bumblebee colonies

  • Original article
  • Published:
Apidologie Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Like many other bees worldwide, honeybees and bumblebees are threatened by human-induced disturbances. Yet some species decline and others thrive, likely due to different foraging strategies. As little is known about how resource intake translates into nutrients available to colonies, our study aimed to better understand how differences in foraging strategies may affect colony health by relating differences in pollen spectra collected to differences in nutrient composition. The Apis and Bombus colonies studied were all located at the same site, but nevertheless differed in the spectra of plant species visited for pollen collection and the quality of pollen collected. Bumblebees generally collected pollen with significantly higher pollen protein content and more essential amino acids. Unlike honeybees that tend to exploit large resource patches, bumblebees thus seem to select the “better” pollen and to focus on quality instead of quantity.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1.
Figure 2.
Figure 3.
Figure 4.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aizen, M.A., Feinsinger, P. (2003) Bees not to be? Responses of insect pollinator faunas and flower pollination to habitat fragmentation. In: Bradshaw, G., Marquet, P., Mooney, H.A. (eds.) How Landscapes Change: Human Disturbance and Ecosystem Disruption in the Americas, pp. 111–129. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Banaszak, J. (1995) Changes in Fauna of Wild Bees in Europe. Pedagogical University, Bydgoszcz

    Google Scholar 

  • Benton, T. (2006) Bumble Bees: The Natural History and Identification of the Species Found in Britain. Collins, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Beug H.-J. (2004) Leitfaden der Pollenbestimmung: für Mitteleuropa und angrenzende Gebiete, Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, München, Germany

  • Biesmeijer, J.C., Roberts, S.P.M., Reemer, M., Ohlemuller, R., Edwards, M., Peeters, T., Schaffers, A.P., Potts, S.G., Kleukers, R., Thomas, C.D., Settele, J., Kunin, W.E. (2006) Parallel declines in pollinators and insect-pollinated plants in Britain and the Netherlands. Science 313, 351–354

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Blüthgen, N., Menzel, F., Blüthgen, N. (2006) Measuring specialization in species interaction networks. BMC Ecol. 6, 9

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bommarco, R., Biesmeijer, J.C., Meyer, B., Potts, S.G., Pöyry, J., Roberts, S.P.M., Steffan-Dewenter, I., Öckinger, E. (2010) Dispersal capacity and diet breadth modify the response of wild bees to habitat loss. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 277, 2075–2082

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bommarco, R., Lundin, O., Smith, H.G., Rundlöf, M. (2011) Drastic historic shifts in bumble-bee community composition in Sweden. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B. doi:10.1098/rspb.2011.0647

  • Cameron, S.A., Lozier, J.D., Strange, J.P., Koch, J.B., Cordes, N., Solter, L.F., Griswold, T.L. (2011) Patterns of widespread decline in North American bumble bees. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A 108, 662–667

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Connop, S., Hill, T., Steer, J., Shaw, P. (2010) The role of dietary breadth in national bumblebee (Bombus) declines: simple correlation? Biol. Conserv. 143, 2739–2746

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crawley, M.J. (2008) The R Book. Wiley, Chichester

    Google Scholar 

  • Darvill, B., Knight, M.E., Goulson, D. (2004) Use of genetic markers to quantify bumblebee foraging range and nest density. Oikos 107, 471–478

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Groot, A.P. (1953) Protein and amino acid requirements of the honey bee (Apis mellifera L.). Physiol. Comp. Oecol. 3, 197–285

    Google Scholar 

  • Devictor, V., Julliard, R., Jiguet, F. (2008) Distribution of specialist and generalist species along spatial gradients of habitat disturbance and fragmentation. Oikos 117, 507–514

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dietz, A. (1992) Nutrition of the adult honeybee. In: Graham, J.M. (ed.) The Hive and the Honeybee, pp. 125–156. Dadant and Sons, Hamilton

    Google Scholar 

  • Dormann, C.F. (2008) Angewandte Statistik für die biologischen Wissenschaften. Helmholtz Zentrum für Umweltforschung-UFZ, Leipzig

    Google Scholar 

  • Fitzpatrick, U., Murray, T.E., Paxton, R.J., Breen, J., Cotton, D., Santorum, V., Brown, M.J.F. (2007) Rarity and decline in bumblebees—a test of causes and correlates in the Irish fauna. Biol. Conserv. 136, 185–194

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Génissel, A., Aupinel, P., Bressac, C., Tasei, J.N., Chevrier, C. (2002) Influence of pollen origin on performance of Bombus terrestris micro-colonies. Entomol. Exp. Appl. 104, 329–336

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goulson, D., Darvill, B. (2004) Niche overlap and diet breadth in bumblebees; are rare species more specialized in their choice of flowers? Apidologie 35, 55–63

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goulson, D., Hanley, M.E., Darvill, B., Ellis, J.S., Knight, M.E. (2005) Causes of rarity in bumblebees. Biol. Conserv. 122, 1–8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goulson, D., Lye, G.C., Darvill, B. (2008) Decline and conservation of bumblebees. Annu. Rev. Entomol. 53, 191–208

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hanley, M.E., Franco, M., Pichon, S., Darvill, B., Goulson, D. (2008) Breeding system, pollinator choice and variation in pollen quality in British herbaceous plants. Funct. Ecol. 22, 592–598

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haydak, M.H. (1970) Honey bee nutrition. Annu. Rev. Entomol. 15, 146–156

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heinrich, B. (1976) The foraging specializations of individual bumblebees. Ecol. Monogr. 46, 105–128

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heinrich, B. (1979) Majoring and minoring by foraging bumblebees, Bombus vagans: an experimental analysis. Ecology 60, 245–255

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heinrich, B., Mudge, P.R., Deringis, P.G. (1977) Laboratory analysis of flower constancy in foraging bumblebees: Bombus ternarius and B. terricola. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 2, 247–265

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herbert, E.W. (1992) Honey bee nutrition. In: Graham, J.E. (ed.) The Hive and the Honey Bee. Dadant and Sons, Hamilton

    Google Scholar 

  • Herbert, E.W.J., Miller-Ihli, N.J. (1987) Seasonal variation of seven minerals in honey bee collected pollen. Am. Bee J. 127, 367–369

    Google Scholar 

  • Hines, H.M., Hendrix, S.D. (2005) Bumble bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) diversity and abundance in tallgrass prairie patches: effects of local and landscape floral resources. Environ. Entomol. 34, 1477–1484

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, S.D., Steiner, K.E. (2000) Generalization versus specialization in plant pollination systems. Trends Ecol. Evol. 15, 140–143

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Keller, I., Fluri, P., Imdorf, A. (2005) Pollen nutrition and colony development in honey bees: part I. Bee World 86, 3–10

    Google Scholar 

  • Kitaoka, T.K., Nieh, J.C. (2009) Bumble bee pollen foraging regulation: role of pollen quality, storage levels, and odor. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 63, 501–510

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kleijn, D., Raemakers, I. (2008) A retrospective analysis of pollen host plant use by stable and declining bumble bee species. Ecology 89, 1811–1823

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Klein, A.M. (2011) Plant–pollinator interactions in changing environments. Basic Appl. Ecol. 12, 279–281

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klein, A.M., Vaissiere, B.E., Cane, J.H., Cunningham, S., Kremen, C., Tscharntke, T. (2007a) The role of pollinators for global crop production. Ecol. Soc. Am. Annu. Meet. Abstracts

  • Klein, A.M., Vaissiere, B.E., Cane, J.H., Steffan-Dewenter, I., Cunningham, S.A., Kremen, C., Tscharntke, T. (2007b) Importance of pollinators in changing landscapes for world crops. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 274, 303–313

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kosior, A., Celary, W., Olejniczak, P., Fijal, J., Król, W., Solarz, W., Plonka, P. (2007) The decline of the bumble bees and cuckoo bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Bombini) of western and central Europe. Oryx 41, 79–88

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kratochwil, A., Kohl, A. (1988) Pollensammel-Präferenzen bei Hummeln - ein Vergleich mit der Honigbiene, Mittelbadischer Landesverb. Nat.kd. Nat.schutz 3, 697–715

    Google Scholar 

  • Leonhardt, S.D., Dworschak, K., Eltz, T., Blüthgen, N. (2007) Foraging loads of stingless bees and utilisation of stored nectar for pollen harvesting. Apidologie 38, 125–135

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Leonhardt, S.D., Schmitt, T., Blüthgen, N. (2011) Tree resin composition, collection behavior and selective filters shape chemical profiles of tropical bees (Apidae: Meliponini). PLoS One 6, e23445

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Michener, C.D. (2007) The Bees of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore

    Google Scholar 

  • Munidasa, D.T., Toquenaga, Y. (2010) Do pollen diets vary among adjacent bumble bee colonies? Ecol. Res. 25, 639–646

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • National Research Council (2007) Status of Pollinators in North America. The National Academics Press, Washington

    Google Scholar 

  • Parker, R.L. (1926) The collection and utilization of pollen by the honeybee. University Agricultural Experiment Station, Memoir Cornell

  • Peat, J., Goulson, D. (2005) Effects of experience and weather on foraging rate and pollen versus nectar collection in the bumblebee, Bombus terrestris. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 58, 152–156

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peat, J., Tucker, J., Goulson, D. (2005) Does intraspecific size variation in bumblebees allow colonies to efficiently exploit different flowers? Ecol. Entomol. 30, 176–181

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Potts, S.G., Biesmeijer, J.C., Kremen, C., Neumann, P., Schweiger, O., Kunin, W.E. (2010) Global pollinator declines: trends, impacts and drivers. Trends Ecol. Evol. 25, 345–353

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Robertson, A.W., Mountjoy, C., Faulkner, B.E., Roberts, M.V., Macnair, M.R. (1999) Bumble bee selection of Mimulus guttatus flowers: the effects of pollen quality and reward depletion. Ecology 80, 2594–2606

    Google Scholar 

  • Roulston, T.H., Cane, J.H. (2000) Pollen nutritional content and digestibility for animals. Plant Syst. Evol. 222, 187–209

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Roulston, T.H., Cane, J.H., Buchmann, S.L. (2000) What governs protein content of pollen: pollinator preferences, pollen–pistil interactions, or phylogeny? Ecol. Monogr. 70, 617–643

    Google Scholar 

  • Rundlöf, M., Nilsson, H., Smith, H.G. (2008) Interacting effects of farming practice and landscape context on bumblebees. Biol. Conserv. 141, 417–426

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sowig, P. (1989) Effects of flowering plant’s patch size on species composition of pollinator communities, foraging strategies, and resource partitioning in bumblebees (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Oecologia 78, 550–558

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steffan-Dewenter, I., Tscharntke, T. (1999) Effects of habitat isolation on pollinator communities and seed set. Oecologia 121, 432–440

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steffan-Dewenter, I., Klein, A.M., Gaebele, V., Alfert, T., Tscharntke, T. (2006) Bee diversity and plant–pollinator interactions in fragmented landscapes. In: Waser, N.M., Ollerton, J. (eds.) Plant–Pollinator Interactions: From Specialization to Generalization, pp. 387–407. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Teräs, I. (1985) Food plants and flower visits of bumblebees (Bombus: Hymenoptera, Apidae) in southern Finland. Acta Zool. Fenn. 179, 1–120

    Google Scholar 

  • Walther-Hellwig, K., Frankl, R. (2000) Foraging habitats and foraging distances of bumblebees, Bombus spp. (Hym., apidae), in an agricultural landscape. J. Appl. Entomol.-Z. Angew. Entomol. 124, 299–306

    Google Scholar 

  • Weiner, C.N., Hilpert, A., Werner, M., Linsenmair, K.E., Blüthgen, N. (2010) Pollen amino acids and flower specialisation in solitary bees. Apidologie 41, 476–487

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Westphal, C., Steffan-Dewenter, I., Tscharntke, T. (2006) Bumblebees experience landscapes at different spatial scales: possible implications for coexistence. Oecologia 149, 289–300

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wille, H., Wille, M. (1984) Die Pollenversorgung des Bienenvolkes: Die wichtigsten Pollenarten bewertet nach ihrem Eiweissgehalt und ihrer Häufigkeit im Pollensammelgut. Schweiz. Bienen-Ztg 2, 64–80

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, P.H. (1982) The distribution and decline of British bumble bees (Bombus Latr). J. Apic. Res. 21, 236–245

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, P.H. (1986) Environmental change and the distributions of British bumble bees (Bombus Latr). Bee World 67, 50–61

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, P.H. (1989) Why are there so many species of bumble bees at Dungeness? Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 101, 31–44

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, P.H. (2005) Does specialization explain rarity and decline among British bumblebees? A response to Goulson et al. Biol. Conserv. 122, 33–43

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, P.H., Araujo, M.B., Rasmont, P. (2007) Can vulnerability among British bumblebee (Bombus) species be explained by niche position and breadth? Biol. Conserv. 138, 493–505

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, P., Colla, S., Xie, Z.H. (2009) Bumblebee vulnerability: common correlates of winners and losers across three continents. Conserv. Biol. 23, 931–940

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, G.R., Tarpy, D.R., vanEngelsdorp, D., Chauzat, M.-P., Cox-Foster, D.L., Delaplane, K.S., Neumann, P., Pettis, J.S., Rogers, R.E.L., Shutler, D. (2010) Colony collapse disorder in context. Bioessays 32, 845–846

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Winfree, R. (2010) The conservation and restoration of wild bees. Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 1195, 169–197

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Winfree, R., Aguilar, R., Vazquez, D.P., LeBuhn, G., Aizen, M.A. (2009) A meta-analysis of bees’ responses to anthropogenic disturbance. Ecology 90, 2068–2076

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Xie, Z., Williams, P.H., Tang, Y. (2008) The effect of grazing on bumblebees in the high rangelands of the eastern Tibetan Plateau of Sichuan. J. Insect Conserv. 12, 695–703

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Marcus Ulbrich as well as Susan Oppermann assisted with the data collection. Linda-Maria Jung and Andrea Hilpert greatly helped with the processing of samples and chemical analyses. Dirk Ahrens-Lagast and Jürgen Tautz kindly provided the honeybee colonies and pollen traps for this study. The comments of two anonymous reviewers greatly improved a previous version of our manuscript. Sara Leonhardt is funded by the Deutsche Forschungs-Gemeinschaft (DFG project: LE 2750/1-1).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology, Leuphana University, Scharnhorststr. 1, 21335, Lüneburg, Germany

    Sara Diana Leonhardt

  2. Department of Biology, University of Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany

    Nico Blüthgen

Authors
  1. Sara Diana Leonhardt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Nico Blüthgen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sara Diana Leonhardt.

Additional information

Manuscript editor: James Nieh

Semblable mais cependant différente: la récolte du pollen chez les colonies d’abeilles et celles de bourdons.

Pollinisateurs généralistes / acides aminés / ressources florales / qualité du pollen

Gleich, und doch verschieden. Wie Honigbienenvölker und Hummelvölker Pollen sammeln.

generalistische Bestäuber / Aminosäuren / florale Ressourcen

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Leonhardt, S.D., Blüthgen, N. The same, but different: pollen foraging in honeybee and bumblebee colonies. Apidologie 43, 449–464 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13592-011-0112-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13592-011-0112-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation