Guard Honeybees
Michael Breed
University of Colorado, Boulder
Why care about this topic?
Colony manageability
Relationships with neighbors, bees in suburban and
urban environments
Understandable focus on keeping colonies alive has
diverted attention from other aspects of honeybee
stock improvement
Basic organization of
honeybee colony defense
Other bee, small
animal trying to
enter nest
Single or small
group of middle
aged bees respond
Large predator,
mammal or bird
trying to enter nest
Many older bees
respond
Stinging
&
Alarm
Pheromone
Guards versus soldiers
Variation among bees in
behavior—scheme
through life
http://bees
potter.mste.
illinois.edu/
topics/socia
l/
Guard bees—Age and
Persistence
http://www.thehoneygatherers.com/html/photolibrary1.html
Moore, Breed and Moor, Animal Behaviour 35:1159-1167 (1987
Variation among colonies
in defensiveness
Differences among strains/ecotypes
 Africanized versus European bees
Variation among colonies within strain
 Can be substantial—more likely due to genes rather than
experience
How do guards function?
 Identify threats based on motion and
proximity
 Discriminate nestmates from nonnestmates
 Respond to other species, such as
yellowjackets
Persistence and colony
defensive responses?
Chasers and guards
Some bees fire out of the hive
and chase intruders in the area
around the hive
These are guards
Post stinging behavior
Chasers have often already stung
Bee has continued defensive
value in intimidation even after it
has stung
Seasonal changes
Woyke
1992
Repeated disturbances
Does defensiveness increase?
Do bees identify individual
causes of disturbances and
respond more to those?
Genetic studies of
defensiveness
 Strong genetic basis for differences in
defensiveness among colonies and
strains
 Shows promise for selection of stock
for manageability and compatibility
with urban beekeeping
 Work done by Page, Hunt and their
colleagues
Defensiveness/foraging
returns/hygienic behavior
correlations
 Degree of linkage among traits affects
how easily we can select for one of
them
 African bees have faster development,
perhaps explaining the large number of
soldiers and higher defensiveness
Defensiveness/foraging
returns/hygienic behavior
correlations
Defensiveness/foraging tradeoff
might exist?
Tradeoffs for hygienic behavior?
But also general activity could
increase both traits—slothful
bees are neither very defensive
or good foragers
Is it worthwhile trying to
select lines of bees for
defensive characteristics?
This is a good question for the
future
Urban compatibility is a key
element
Manageability is also important,
particularly if absconding can be
sorted out from desirable traits
Questions?