Seasonal Behavior

Bees display distinct behaviors and physiological states across the seasons.  In temperate climates, most bee species will enter a state of diapause during the winter months, associated with increased nutritional stores, decreased metabolism, and decreased activity or dormancy.  Honey bees will produce a cohort of “winter” bees in the fall, and these bees exhibit increased nutritional stores, altered hormone profiles, and increased longevity, and form a thermoregulating cluster. We are examining the molecular, physiological and nutritional processes underlying these seasonal behaviors, to understand how these are regulated and how they evolved.

Relevant publications:

Bresnahan, S.T., Doke, M.A., Giray, T. and C.M. Grozinger. “Tissue-specific transcriptional patterns underlie the seasonal phenotypes in honey bees (Apis mellifera)” Molecular Ecology DOI: 10.1111/mec.16220  (2021) 

Feliciano-Cardona, S., Döke, M.A., Aleman-Rios, J., Agosto-Rivera, J.L., Grozinger C.M., and T. Giray. “Honey bees in the tropics show winter bee-like longevity in response to seasonal dearth and brood reduction” Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 8:336 (2020).

Doke, M.A., McGrady, C.M., Otieno, M., Grozinger, C.M., and M. Frazier.  "Colony size, rather than geographic origin of stocks, predicts overwintering success in honey bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in the northeastern United States" Journal of Economic Entomology 112(2): 525-533 (2019). (2019 Journal of Economic Entomology Editor's Choice Award)

Amsalem, E., Galbraith, D., Cnaani, J., Teal, P. and C.M. Grozinger.  "Conservation and modification of genetic and physiological toolkits underpinning diapause in bumble bee queens"  Molecular Ecology 24(22): 5596-5615 (2015).

Doke, M.A., Frazier, M. and C.M. Grozinger. "Overwintering Honey Bees: Biology and Management"  Current Opinion in Insect Science 10: 185-193 (2015).