GENOTYPIC VARIATION IN FORAGING RESPONSES TO ENVIRONMENTAL STIMULI BYHONEY-BEES, APIS-MELLIFERA

We experimentally tested a model predicting that colony-level genotypi c diversity contributes to colony-level foraging flexibility in honey bees. We established a colony into which we placed individually marked workers from three genetically distinct groups. The colony was placed in an enclosure that contained feeding stations with pollen and sugar syrup. Foraging resources, stores of pollen and the quantity of brood within the colony were varied temporally. Individual foragers switche d between resource types in response to changes in relative resource q uality and colony need, demonstrating flexibility in resource choice a t the individual level. However, genetic groups within the colony vari ed in their tendency to collect pollen versus nectar, and in lability of response to changes in foraging stimuli. Our data suggest that with in-colony genotypic diversity contributes to a resilient foraging resp onse to environmental variation.