Honeybees are Observing Social Distancing When Threatened by Mites

The term "social distance" has become all too common in the last 18 months. But it seems out we're not the only ones that avoid our colleagues when their health is in jeopardy: study reveals honeybees do it as well.

When a hive of honeybees is threatened by the mite Varroa destructor - a pathogen associated with beehive colony collapse - scientists have discovered that the bees adapt by altering how they communicate with one another.

"If you believe humans have a brain, we're conscious, but it took us a long time to modify our everyday behavior [in reaction to Covid], I think it's wonderful to discover that other animals are doing something similar," said University College London co-author Dr. Alessandro Cini.

Cini and colleagues describe how they initially looked at beehives in Sardinia, Italy, and compared the behavior of bees in hives that were naturally infected with the mites to those in hives that had been treated to get rid of the parasites in a paper published in the journal Science Advances.

Related Article: Sick Bats Observe Social Distancing Naturally to Avoid Spreading Diseases

Mites Infesting Bees

The team discovered that when the hive is infested with mites, foraging bees - which tend to be older members of the colony - performed important dances to indicate the direction of food sources, such as the waggle dance, away from the center of the colony, where the young bees, the queen, and brood cells are found when the hive is infested with mites.

According to Cini, this might help keep the infection at a manageable level, reducing the amount of harm. "One of the primary access ways for the mites is through foragers," Cini explained. "As a result, the more they remain away from the brood and young individuals, the better the colony's mite population will be prevented."

Honeybee Healthcare

The researchers also discovered differences in where bees groomed one another: in uninfected colonies, grooming is concentrated among the young in the hive's center, but when mites were present, it was even more so. "They're presumably focusing their attention [efforts] on the more vital aspect of the colony, leaving forager grooming to the foragers," Cini explained.

Next, the researchers conducted studies in the lab, infecting small groups of around 12 juvenile bees with the mites intentionally and comparing them to uninfected groups. This time, the researchers saw no increase in social separation among infected groups, which Cini believes might be since foragers and immature bees need to keep their distance when mites are present and that bees rely on one another.

"Social distancing is likely too straining on a small scale," he added.

Socially Distanced Hives

However, there were changes in grooming behavior: infected bees were brushed, examined, and had food shared with them more frequently than uninfected bees.

The findings, according to Cini, demonstrated the importance of natural selection in the evolution of social behavior. He said, "As well as dynamic change in social behavior to adapt to an ever-changing environment."

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