ArticleScientific reports2022
Honey bees save energy in honey processing by dehydrating nectar before returning to the nest.
Article in Scientific reports, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- Inferring plant-bee-microbe associations: Foragers, hive workers, and honey tell complementary stories.PloS one · 2026Article
- Liquid Gold with a Dark Side-A Toxicological Overview of Bioactive Components in Honey.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Antimicrobial Potential of Bee-Derived Products: Insights into Honey, Propolis and Bee Venom.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Article
- Article
- Bacterial diversity in the honey sac during bee foraging on winter-flowering flora and dominantFrontiers in insect science · 2025Article
- PhytochemicalOpen biology · 2024Article
- Sugar responsiveness could determine foraging patterns in yellowjackets.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Botanical Origin Influence on Some Honey Physicochemical Characteristics and Antioxidant Properties.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
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Abstract
Honey bees process nectar into honey by active evaporation on the tongue and passive evaporation involving nest ventilation and fanning behaviour, as well as enzymatic action. The elimination of excess water from nectar carries considerable energetic costs. The concentration of the nectar load is assumed to remain constant during transport. However, some of this water elimination may occur before foragers return to the nest and pass their nectar loads to receiver bees. In honey bees captured while foraging in Macadamia orchards, we show that the nectar in their crops has approximately twice the sugar concentration of the fresh nectar in flowers. This was true for four Macadamia cultivars, with up to 75% of the initial water content being removed. There is a further concentration increase in the crops of returning bees captured at the hive entrance. The only possible route of water elimination from the crop is via evaporation from the mouthparts. We calculate the savings in honey processing costs to be on average 35 times more than the reduction in flight costs due to reduced body mass. Pre-concentration of nectar in foraging honey bees may be widespread, and of crucial importance for honey storage.
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