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Research output: Thesis › Doctoral Thesis
Research output: Thesis › Doctoral Thesis
}
TY - BOOK
T1 - Causes and consequences of variation in the nutrition and endemic microflora of food stores in managed honey bees (Apis mellifera L.)
AU - Donkersley, Philip William
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Honey bees are pollinators, accounting for around 90% of commercialpollination of animal-pollinated plants and approximately 35% of global foodproduction. Global populations of honey bees have declined significantly recentlywith heavy losses attributed to Colony Collapse Disorder, pesticides, parasites andpathogens. One of the factors that may be contributing to an increase in susceptibilityto these stresses is the quality of food available in a hive. This thesis focuses on theinteractions between honey bee nutrition, microbial communities and fitness.In Chapter 2 the nutritional composition of bee bread (pollen stored insidehives) was studied. The composition in terms of protein and reducing sugar was foundto vary both spatially and temporally; lipid and starch content was found to varytemporally through the season. The spatial trends in protein content were found to beassociated with changes in landscape composition, as estimated by the CountrysideSurvey database. The implications for these findings are that certain landscape typesmay produce higher quality diets for honey bees.In Chapter 3, the link between nutritional composition of bee bread and thespecies of plant that comprise it was investigated. Previous research indicates thatpollens vary in their nutritional content and using molecular tools, we investigated theimpact of complex plant communities in this system. The number of plant species inbee bread was positively correlated with increasing protein levels, and specificallycertain individual plant species were found to be driving this pattern. These resultsindicate that a more diverse diet of plants will benefit honey bees by increasing theirdietary protein intake.The conversion of pollen to bee bread requires the activity of certainmicroorganisms. In chapter 4, we again used molecular tools to study the microbial community found associated with bee bread. We found a community that was notsignificantly different between hives located in different areas, but which variedsignificantly in is composition through the beekeeping season. This suggests that theenvironment does not determine the bacterial communities in honey bee hives; ratherit is being determined by seasonal changes.Finally, in chapter 5 the relationship between the nutritional composition ofbee bread and the immunocompetence of larval and adult honey bees was examined.The results showed that dietary protein and carbohydrate is significantly correlatedwith the overall fitness of a hive in terms of expression a constituent immuneresponse. The link between landscape composition and nutrition established in chapter2 was used to predict honey bee nutrition across the UK, and then was used to predictimmune response for all UK bees. These predictions were comparable to honey beedisease records maintained by UK government.This thesis provides a detailed examination of the effects of landscapecomposition on honey bee nutrition and immunity. The results presented here haveimplications for understanding spatial patterns in bee fitness and bee diseaseepidemiology.
AB - Honey bees are pollinators, accounting for around 90% of commercialpollination of animal-pollinated plants and approximately 35% of global foodproduction. Global populations of honey bees have declined significantly recentlywith heavy losses attributed to Colony Collapse Disorder, pesticides, parasites andpathogens. One of the factors that may be contributing to an increase in susceptibilityto these stresses is the quality of food available in a hive. This thesis focuses on theinteractions between honey bee nutrition, microbial communities and fitness.In Chapter 2 the nutritional composition of bee bread (pollen stored insidehives) was studied. The composition in terms of protein and reducing sugar was foundto vary both spatially and temporally; lipid and starch content was found to varytemporally through the season. The spatial trends in protein content were found to beassociated with changes in landscape composition, as estimated by the CountrysideSurvey database. The implications for these findings are that certain landscape typesmay produce higher quality diets for honey bees.In Chapter 3, the link between nutritional composition of bee bread and thespecies of plant that comprise it was investigated. Previous research indicates thatpollens vary in their nutritional content and using molecular tools, we investigated theimpact of complex plant communities in this system. The number of plant species inbee bread was positively correlated with increasing protein levels, and specificallycertain individual plant species were found to be driving this pattern. These resultsindicate that a more diverse diet of plants will benefit honey bees by increasing theirdietary protein intake.The conversion of pollen to bee bread requires the activity of certainmicroorganisms. In chapter 4, we again used molecular tools to study the microbial community found associated with bee bread. We found a community that was notsignificantly different between hives located in different areas, but which variedsignificantly in is composition through the beekeeping season. This suggests that theenvironment does not determine the bacterial communities in honey bee hives; ratherit is being determined by seasonal changes.Finally, in chapter 5 the relationship between the nutritional composition ofbee bread and the immunocompetence of larval and adult honey bees was examined.The results showed that dietary protein and carbohydrate is significantly correlatedwith the overall fitness of a hive in terms of expression a constituent immuneresponse. The link between landscape composition and nutrition established in chapter2 was used to predict honey bee nutrition across the UK, and then was used to predictimmune response for all UK bees. These predictions were comparable to honey beedisease records maintained by UK government.This thesis provides a detailed examination of the effects of landscapecomposition on honey bee nutrition and immunity. The results presented here haveimplications for understanding spatial patterns in bee fitness and bee diseaseepidemiology.
U2 - 10.17635/lancaster/thesis/96
DO - 10.17635/lancaster/thesis/96
M3 - Doctoral Thesis
PB - Lancaster University
ER -