Honeybees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) Adapt to the Shock of High Temperature and High Humidity Through Changes in Sugars and Polyols and Free Amino Acids

Abstract

Abstract Temperature and humidity are important factors affecting the honeybees physiological metabolism. When honeybees are stressed by high temperature and high humidity, various physiological stress mechanisms evolved by bees are activated in response to injury. The accumulation of some sugars, polyols, and free amino acids can effectively protect cell structure stability and resist temperature stress. In this study, the changes of glucose, trehalose, cholesterol, sorbitol, sorbitol dehydrogenase, mannitol, and free amino acids content of worker honeybees [Apis cerana cerana Fabricius and Apis mellifera Ligustica (Hymenoptera: Apidae)] under different temperature and humidity conditions were measured. Our research results show that high temperature has an important impact on the metabolism of honeybees. Heat stress can cause the accumulation of various antistress substances in worker. The contents of sugars, polyols, and some free amino acids accumulated in high temperature were significantly higher than those in the control, while the influence of high humidity was less. Although high humidity was improved compared with the control, the difference was not obvious. It provides a theoretical basis for exploring the physiological mechanism of individual heat resistance of honeybees.