Honey Bee Alarm Pheromone Mediates Communication in Plant–Pollinator–Predator Interactions
1
CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650000, China
2
Center for Plant Ecology, Core Botanical Gardens, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Insects 2019, 10(10), 366; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects10100366
Received: 16 September 2019 / Revised: 18 October 2019 / Accepted: 18 October 2019 / Published: 21 October 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Honeybee Neurobiology and Behavior)
Honey bees play a crucial role in pollination, and in performing this critical function, face numerous threats from predators and parasites during foraging and homing trips. Back in the nest, their defensive behavior drives some individuals to sacrifice themselves while fighting intruders with their stingers or mandibles. During these intense conflicts, bees release alarm pheromone to rapidly communicate with other nest mates about the present danger. However, we still know little about why and how alarm pheromone is used in plant–pollinator–predator interactions. Here, we review the history of previously detected bee alarm pheromones and the current state of the chemical analyses. More new components and functions have been confirmed in honey bee alarm pheromone. Then, we ask how important the alarm pheromones are in intra- and/or inter-species communication. Some plants even adopt mimicry systems to attract either the pollinators themselves or their predators for pollination via alarm pheromone. Pheromones are honest signals that evolved in one species and can be one of the main driving factors affecting co-evolution in plant–pollinator–predator interactions. Our review intends to stimulate new studies on the neuronal, molecular, behavioral, and evolutionary levels in order to understand how alarm pheromone mediates communication in plant–pollinator–predator interactions.
View Full-Text
Keywords:
olfaction; isopentyl acetate; honest signal; I-see-you signal; mimicry
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Wang, Z.; Tan, K. Honey Bee Alarm Pheromone Mediates Communication in Plant–Pollinator–Predator Interactions. Insects 2019, 10, 366. https://doi.org/10.3390/insects10100366
AMA Style
Wang Z, Tan K. Honey Bee Alarm Pheromone Mediates Communication in Plant–Pollinator–Predator Interactions. Insects. 2019; 10(10):366. https://doi.org/10.3390/insects10100366
Chicago/Turabian StyleWang, Zhengwei; Tan, Ken. 2019. "Honey Bee Alarm Pheromone Mediates Communication in Plant–Pollinator–Predator Interactions" Insects 10, no. 10: 366. https://doi.org/10.3390/insects10100366
Find Other Styles
Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.
Search more from Scilit