Honey bees (Apis cerana) use animal feces as a tool to defend colonies against group attack by giant hornets (Vespa soror)
| Autor: | Ngoc T Phan, Heather R. Mattila, Hanh Duc Pham, Olivia M. Knight, Lien T P Nguyen, Gard W. Otis |
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| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
Forage (honey bee) Wasps Social Sciences Predation 01 natural sciences Habits Feces Honey Bees Sociology Filter Paper Nest Psychology Predator Apis cerana Multidisciplinary Ecology Animal Behavior biology Organic Compounds Eukaryota Bees Trophic Interactions Insects Laboratory Equipment Chemistry Community Ecology Physical Sciences Social Systems Medicine Engineering and Technology Research Article Ethers Arthropoda Science Equipment Zoology 010603 evolutionary biology Nesting Habits Species Specificity Vespa soror Animals Behavior Ecology and Environmental Sciences Organic Chemistry Organisms Chemical Compounds Biology and Life Sciences biology.organism_classification Hymenoptera Invertebrates Brood 010602 entomology Predatory Behavior Entomology |
| Zdroj: | PLoS ONE PLoS ONE, Vol 15, Iss 12, p e0242668 (2020) |
| ISSN: | 1932-6203 |
| DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0242668 |
| Popis: | Honey bees (genusApis)are well known for the impressive suite of nest defenses they have evolved to protect their abundant stockpiles of food and the large colonies they sustain. In Asia, honey bees have evolved under tremendous predatory pressure from social wasps in the genusVespa, the most formidable of which are the giant hornets that attack colonies in groups, kill adult defenders, and prey on brood. We document for the first time an extraordinary collective defense used byApis ceranaagainst the giant hornetVespa soror. In response to attack byV.soror,A.ceranaworkers foraged for and applied spots of animal feces around their nest entrances. Fecal spotting increased after colonies were exposed either to naturally occurring attacks or to chemicals that scout hornets use to target colonies for mass attack. Spotting continued for days after attacks ceased and occurred in response toV.soror, which frequently landed at and chewed on entrances to breach nests, but notVespa velutina, a smaller hornet that rarely landed at entrances. Moderate to heavy fecal spotting suppressed attempts byV.sororto penetrate nests by lowering the incidence of multiple-hornet attacks and substantially reducing the likelihood of them approaching and chewing on entrances. We argue thatA.ceranaforages for animal feces because it has properties that repel this deadly predator from nest entrances, providing the first report of tool use by honey bees and the first evidence that they forage for solids that are not derived from plants. Our study describes a remarkable weapon in the already sophisticated portfolio of defenses that honey bees have evolved in response to the predatory threats they face. It also highlights the strong selective pressure honey bees will encounter if giant hornets, recently detected in western North America, become established. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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