This research project is a collaborative effort by a behavioral biologist, Dr. Michael D. Breed, of the University of Colorado, and two natural-products chemists, Drs. Louis B. Bjostad and Hibbard of Colorado State University. They are investigating how honey bees are able to determine which bees belong in their colony and which do not. This phenomenon is an example of the widespread ability of organisms to discriminate relatives from non-relatives and is termed "kin recognition." From a practical standpoint, the manipulation of the honey-bee kin-recognition system has great potential importance in the management of honey bees and, particularly, in making appropriate adjustments as the "African" honey bee population expands in the U.S. Beekeepers routinely requeen colonies, an expensive and time-consuming operation, yet often the intended replacement queen is not accepted by the workers. Currently this is a tolerable inefficiency. When controlling the identity of the queen in the colony becomes a critical aspect of preventing Africanization of bee stocks, successful requeening will be a necessity. Drs. Breed, Bjostad, and Hibbard expect to develop chemical manipulations that will greatly facilitate requeening of honey bee colonies. The researchers have determined that the comb wax is a primary source of recognition chemicals in the honey bee. They have analyzed the wax and have pinpointed chemical compounds that may have a role in recognition. They now will (1) identify more of these chemicals, (2) determine how these compounds are used as recognition cues, and (3) use this information to determine how workers and queens are recognized by natural colonies. This work will give insight into how a fundamental biological mechanism, kin recognition, works, and may also yield results of practical significance in the management of honey bees.
