A little bee told me… using waggle dance analysis and pollen identification to examine foraging of honey bees (Apis mellifera) in mixed agro-urban ecosysems

Suresh, Sreelakshmi

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/124420 Copy

Description

Title

A little bee told me… using waggle dance analysis and pollen identification to examine foraging of honey bees (Apis mellifera) in mixed agro-urban ecosysems

Author(s)

Suresh, Sreelakshmi

Issue Date

2024-04-30

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Dolezal, Adam

Committee Member(s)

• Ngumbi, Esther N
• Molano-Flores, Brenda

Department of Study

Entomology

Discipline

Entomology

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.S.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

• honey bee foraging
• waggle dance language
• honey bee
• pollinator
• palynology
• pollen

Abstract

Honey bees (Apis mellifera) are generalist foragers that are crucial to the pollination of several economically important crops in the US Midwest, an area characterized largely of low-diversity conventional agriculture. However, in the same area exists both diversified farms with more than one crop, and urban space with pollinator gardens and roadside with uncultivated plants not intentionally planted by humans. At one apiary in central Illinois with availability of forage at all three landscapes, it is unclear where honey bees would be present. To explore this, I used waggle dance analysis combining Image J, R, and QGIS to create maps representing honey bee presence in August 2021 and 2022, a period where summer forage beings to dwindle and bees begin to shift foraging. This was paired with identification of corbicular pollen further confirm honey bee forage. From corbicular pollen, 51% of pollen came from plants introduced to the Midwest; further, one-third of these plants are legally identified as invasive or noxious weeds. Waggle dance maps reveal bee presence in urban areas or roadsides with predominantly uncultivated plants such as Cichorium intybus or Trifolium spp. Though additional work needs to be done, this contrasts with current pollinator-friendly planting recommendations that predominantly or solely consist of plants native to the Midwest. This study suggests honey bees may instead benefit from certain plants introduced to the landscape, such as food plants intentionally cultivated in diversified farms or backyard gardens. A mixed planting of native and cultivated plants to support both honey and native bees could support both while potentially allowing for climate resiliency.

Graduation Semester

2024-05

Type of Resource

Thesis

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2024 Sreelakshmi Suresh

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