Successful Selection of Honeybees for Fast and Slow Hoarding of Sugar Syrup in the Laboratory

Abstract

Five generations of two-way selection for hoarding behaviour by young, caged bees in the laboratory resulted in a fast and a slow line. In the fifth generation of selection, worker bees from the colonies of the fast line took an average of 5 days to collect 20 ml of sugar syrup from a vial, whereas workers from colonies of the slow line required slightly over 14 days. The colonies of the second, fourth and fifth generations of the selected lines were tested for weight gains in the field. Fast-line colonies of the second generation gained more weight than slow-line colonies in three field tests. Fast and slow colonies of the fourth and fifth generations showed similar weight gains. Some possible explanations for this lack of consistent superiority of the fast line are presented.