Issue Apidologie Volume 40, Number 6, November-December 2009 Page(s) 608 - 616 DOI 10.1051/apido/2009034 Published online 06 June 2009

Apidologie 40 (2009) 608-616
DOI: 10.1051/apido/2009034

Potential application of the bumblebee foraging recruitment pheromone for commercial greenhouse pollination

Mathieu Molet, Lars Chittka and Nigel E. Raine

Queen Mary University of London, Research Centre for Psychology, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK

Received 8 January 2009 – Revised 9 March 2009 – Accepted 11 March 2009 - Published online 6 June 2009

Abstract - Commercial bumblebee colonies are important crop pollinators. Here we assess whether application of artificial foraging recruitment pheromone can increase foraging activity in Bombus terrestris colonies on a relevant timescale for commercial pollination. We measured bee traffic from the nest to a foraging arena, which is correlated with foraging activity under natural recruitment conditions. During continuous pheromone exposure bee traffic increased by 1.5 to 3.6 times, and this increase lasted up to 105 minute. Repeated 20 minute exposures of a colony to recruitment pheromone, with at least 30 minutes intermissions, triggered consistent traffic increases over a four week period. We conclude that artificial recruitment pheromone can reliably boost bee traffic leaving previously inactive colonies. This method could improve foraging activity and pollination in greenhouse colonies, especially young colonies reluctant to start foraging after introduction to the crop.

Key words: artificial recruitment pheromone / Bombus terrestris / chemical communication / crop yield / foraging activity


© INRA, DIB-AGIB, EDP Sciences 2009

What is OpenURL?