Concrete consequences: construction on prime honey bee habitat doubles foraging distances.

Abstract

Human-induced land-use change is a well-documented driver of species decline, including bees, but its true cost may be underestimated. The effects of habitat conversion on honey bee foraging metabolic costs are not well documented. Here, we quantify the impact of land use change on the foraging of freely flying honey bees (Apis mellifera) before (2018-2019, n=382) and after (2022, n=502) their historical foraging habitat is developed. We decoded and analyzed honey bee waggle dances, through which returning foragers communicate the vector of forage. We found that bees increased (from 2.4% to 8.4%) their use of undisturbed microhabitat within the development. The small-scale developments, covering just 1% of the foraging range, nearly doubled flight distance and energy expenditure. Average distance increased from 0.69 to 1.28 kilometers (from 7 to 13 Joules). Our study updates our understanding of land development costs on local bees, revealing concrete consequences to changing land upon which pollinators depend.