The behavioral regulation of thirst, water collection and water storage in honey bee colonies

Abstract

This study investigated how a honey bee colony develops and quenches its collective thirst when it experiences hyperthermia of its broodnest. We found that a colony must strongly boost its water intake because evaporative cooling is critical to relieving broodnest hyperthermia, and that it must rapidly boost its water intake because a colony maintains only a small water reserve. We also clarified how a colony's water collectors know when to spring into action - by sensing either more frequent requests for fluid or greater personal thirst, or both. Finally, we found that the behavioral flexibility of a colony's water collectors enables them not only to satisfy their colony's current water needs but also to buffer their colony against future extreme water stresses by storing water in their crops and in their combs.

Keywords: Apis mellifera; Nest thermoregulation; Social physiology; Social thirst; Water collectors; Water homeostasis.