Honey bees exhibit greater patch fidelity than bumble bees when foraging in a common environment

Animals commonly exhibit a tendency to return to previously visited locations. Such tendency is manifested at different scales, for example, fidelity to a site or fidelity to a specific patch within a site. Although patch fidelity has important implications for the pollinators and the plants they visit, our understanding of patch fidelity, and the extent to which it varies among bee species, remains limited. Here, we used a mark-reobservation approach to compare patch fidelity and patch size preference between one bumble bee and one honey bee species foraging on patches of Medicago sativa L. Honey bees exhibited greater patch fidelity (76%) than bumble bees (47%); they were more likely to return to the patch where they were marked. Patch size affected the level of patch fidelity for bumble bees but not for honey bees. Bumble bees were more likely to return to larger rather than smaller patches. In addition to patch fidelity, we detected preference of bees for the larger patches. Bees visited the larger patches more often than the smaller patches. These results add patch fidelity to the already known repertoire of differences in foraging strategies between a bumble bee and a honey bee species. It also indicates how the simultaneous study of distinct species in a similar environment can reveal important previously undetected information about their behavioral ecology. Observed differences in patch fidelity and patch size preferences may have important implications for crop pollination and conservation habitat design.

Automated summary

Animals commonly exhibit a tendency to return to previously visited locations. This study compared patch fidelity and patch size preference between one bumble bee and one honey bee species foraging on patches of Medicago sativa L. Results showed that honey bees exhibited greater patch fidelity (76%) than bumble bees (47%), and honey bees were more likely to return to the patch where they were marked. Bumble bees showed a preference for larger patches and were more likely to return to them.