Pests, parasitoids, and predators: Can they degrade the sociality of a honeybee colony, and be assessed via acoustically monitored systems?

Abstract

Honey bees are one the world’s most important contributors to plant pollination. Their unexplained decline has become a matter of great concern. Potential factors destroying bee colonies include pathogens, pests, pesticides and environmental changes. The lethal effects of these factors have been extensively observed, but elucidating the mechanisms that may cause the collapse of an entire colony has been largely neglected. In this review, along with lethal effects we address the nonlethal effects of insect invaders (like insect pests, parasitoids and predators) and mites on social behavior of in-hive honeybee colonies. We also describe the acoustic emissions produced during confrontations with insect invaders. Then, we briefly describe multiple in-hive monitoring systems, and propose our own simple sound collection system which can prove as a useful tool to upgrade previously developed in-hive monitoring systems. Lastly, based on existing knowledge, we present hypothetical strategies towards maintaining normal hive social behavior to mitigate the effects instigated by colony collapse disorder (CCD).