Responses of Honey Bees (Apis Mellifera) to Amino Acid Solutions Mimicking Floral Nectars

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Abstract
Amino acids are probably ubiquitous components of floral and extrafloral nectars. Although it seems likely that they serve, as sugars do, to reward nectarivores, little is known about the responses to amino acids by flower visitors. The experiments reported here were conducted to determine the responses of honey bees (Apis mellifera) to single amino acids at relatively high concentrations dissolved in an aqueous solution of 30% sucrose. Bees' responses to 24 L—amino acids, 2 DL mixtures, 2 phenolics, and a flavonoid were tested with artificial—flower feeders. The bees' responses were classified as: (1) consumption that generally declined as amino acid concentration increased (although weak solutions of amino acids were sometimes preferred over a sucrose control), (2) a preference for the strongest concentration offered (phenylalanine), (3) no significant difference between the amino and acid and control. There were no apparent correlations between characteristics of the amino acids and the bees' reactions to them, and no obvious difference between responses to essential and nonessential amino acids.