Migratory management and environmental conditions affect lifespan and oxidative stress in honey bees

• DOI: 10.1038/srep32023
• Publication Date: 2016-08-24T10:31:25Z
• Authors: Michael Simone-Fi...; Hongmei Li-Byarlay; Ming H. Huang; Micheline K. Strand; Olav Rueppell; David R. Tarpy
• Keywords: 0106 biological sciences; 2. Zero hunger; Age Factors; Agriculture; Bees; 01 natural sciences; Article; California; Oxidative Stress; Malondialdehyde; North Carolina; Animals; Maine

Abstract Most pollination in large-scale agriculture is dependent on managed colonies of a single species, the honey bee Apis mellifera . More than 1 million hives are transported to California each year just pollinate almonds and bees trucked across country for various cropping systems. Concerns have been raised about whether such “migratory management” causes undue stress; however date there no longer-term studies rigorously addressing migratory management detrimental health. To address this issue, we conducted field experiments comparing from commercial experimental beekeeping operations those stationary quantify effects lifespan, colony health productivity levels oxidative damage individual bees. We detected significant decrease lifespan adult relative also found that migration affected stress bees, but food scarcity had an even larger impact; some may be alleviated by greater abundance forage. In addition, rearing conditions affect incurred as adults. This first comprehensive study impacts