Understanding the foraging behavior of sweat bees, bumble bees, and honey bees on centipedegrass for conservation strategies

Authors: IBIYEMI, DANIEL - University Of Georgia; Harris-Shultz, Karen; JESPERSEN, DAVID - University Of Georgia; JOSEPH, SHIMAT - University Of Georgia

Submitted to: Journal of Insect Behavior
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/23/2025
Publication Date: 10/27/2025
Citation: Ibiyemi, D., Harris-Shultz, K.R., Jespersen, D., Joseph, S.V. 2025. Understanding the foraging behavior of sweat bees, bumble bees, and honey bees on centipedegrass for conservation strategies. Journal of Insect Behavior. 38, 29. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10905-025-09893-y.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10905-025-09893-y

Interpretive Summary: Bee populations have been declining globally due to habitat loss, pesticide exposure, resource deprivation, and infection by parasites and pathogens. Recently it has been discovered that primarily bumblebees, honeybees, and sweat bees collect pollen from centipedegrass, a common turfgrass grown in the southeastern U.S. To more fully understand how bees interact with centipedegrass flowers, bee foraging behavior was examined from videos recorded over a two-year period from five lawns. Crawling, clinging, dangling, wing buzzing, and tongue protrusion were behaviors that were observed. Bumblebees crawled on the spike more than honeybees and sweat bees. Bumblebees and honeybees clung more to the spike than sweat bees whereas sweat bees dangled from the spike more than bumblebees and sweat bees. Bumblebees were the only bee studied that exhibited wing buzzing and tongue protrusion. Bumblebees and honeybees visited more spikes than sweat bees in a 10 s period and sweat bees stayed on each spike much longer than bumblebees and honeybees. Bumblebees and honeybees are social insects and foragers are responsible for collecting pollen to feed large numbers of larvae. Thus they use crawling and clinging to the spike to quickly collected pollen from a large number of spikes. In contrast the sweat bees, Lassioglossum, are usually solitary bees and their foraging behavior of dangling is time consuming. Our results show that foraging behavior of each bee is likely reflected by the presence and needs of the colony.

Technical Abstract: Bees, primarily including Lasioglossum (sweat bees), Bombus spp. (bumble bees), and Apis mellifera (honey bees), have been recently reported to forage on centipedegrass spikes. However, the specific interactions between these different bee groups and the spikes during foraging have not been fully understood. This information is critical for optimizing pollination services and guiding conservation efforts of bees in managed landscapes. Thus, the objective of this study was to characterize the foraging behaviors of bee species on centipedegrass spikes. A total of 181 video recordings collected during the summer of 2022 and 2023 were examined, focusing on behaviors such as crawling, clinging, dangling, dangling tongue protrusion, and wing buzzing. Bumble bees were observed to exhibit more frequent crawling behavior across spikes compared to honey bees and Lasioglossum. Clinging behavior, where bees held onto spikes with their legs to collect pollen, was more commonly observed in both bumble bees and honey bees than in Lasioglossum. Lasioglossum spent more time on individual inflorescences and visited fewer spikes than Apis mellifera and Bombus. Lasioglossum dangled on the spikes while foraging, but this behavior was not observed in other bee species. Bumble bees demonstrated more frequent tongue protrusion and wing buzzing than other bee groups. This suggests that various bee species exhibit unique or multiple behaviors when foraging on centipedegrass spikes and collecting pollen. Implications of these foraging behaviors on conservation strategies and pollination are discussed.