Honey robbing: could human changes to the environment transform a rare foraging tactic into a maladaptive behavior?

Clare C. Rittschof, James C. Nieh

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

Human environmental modifications have outpaced honey bees’ ability to evolve adaptive regulation of foraging tactics, possibly including a tactic associated with extreme food shortage, honey robbing. Honey robbing is a high risk, high reward, and understudied honey bee tactic whereby workers attack and often kill neighboring colonies to steal honey. Humans have exacerbated the conditions that provoke such robbing and its consequences. We describe robbing as an individual-level and colony-level behavioral syndrome, implicating worker bees specialized for foraging, food processing, and defense. We discuss how colony signaling mechanisms could regulate this syndrome and then explore the ecological underpinnings of robbing—highlighting its unusual prevalence in the commonly managed Apis mellifera and outlining the conditions that provoke robbing. We advocate for studies that identify the cues that modulate this robbing syndrome. Additionally, studies that apply behavioral ecology modeling approaches to generate testable predictions about robbing could clarify basic bee biology and have practical implications for colony management.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)84-90
Number of pages7
JournalCurrent Opinion in Insect Science
Volume45
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Inc.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture , U.S. Department of Agriculture Hatch Program (accession number 1012993, C.C.R.), and the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research Pollinator Health Fund (549049, C.C.R.).

FundersFunder number
Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research Pollinator Health Fund549049
U.S. Department of Agriculture1012993
US Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Agriculture and Food Research Initiative

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
    • Insect Science

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