The impact of colony food reserves on honey bee foraging distance and seed crop isolation

Commodities

• Vegetables: carrots
• Animals: bees

Practices

• Crop Production: beekeeping, pollination, pollinator health
• Education and Training: extension, on-farm/ranch research

The movement of pollen between fields is a serious issue currently facing producers of vegetable seed. Isolation is critical to the production of this seed because it is the only way to maintain high genetic purity and value of the produced seed. The low attractiveness of these crops and long foraging distance of the honey bees used to pollinate them significantly increases this risk. This project seeks to aid producers by answering the question of how the nutritional status and food stores of a bee colony impact their foraging during pollination of hybrid carrot seed. To answer this question, observation hives and full-size colonies will be placed on a hybrid carrot seed field during pollination and given varying amounts of pollen, honey, and empty comb. Waggle dances occurring in observation hives will be decoded to determine foraging distance and the impact on isolation. The total amount of pollen collected, the amount of carrot pollen, and the entrance activity of full-size hives will be used to determine foraging activity and the impact on pollination. At the conclusion of this study, results will be disseminated through both oral and written methods including an extension factsheet, journal article, presentations to producer associations, and presentations at research conferences. Ultimately, this project aims to provide producers with practical tools to improve pollination and isolation, while also advancing our understanding of honey bee foraging behavior for applications beyond vegetable seed production, such as preventing transgene escape in genetically modified crops (cotton, alfalfa, and canola).

Research Objectives:

Objective 1: Evaluate the impact of food store abundance on honey bee foraging distance in a patchy landscape.

Objective 2: Determine how food store abundance impacts overall colony foraging activity and pollination of carrots.

Educational Objectives:

Objective 1: Improve communication between beekeepers and growers.

Objective 2: Increase understanding of bee behaviour in the agricultural landscape.