Honeybees play a crucial role in pollination, contributing significantly to the world’s food supply. Unmanaged forests are considered the native habitat of the Western honeybee, Apis mellifera, and are assumed to provide essential pollen and nectar sources. However, managed forests may not offer the same abundance of resources. A recent study by Rutschmann and colleagues in the Journal of Applied Ecology reveals how managed forests could be improved to better support honeybee foraging.

The researchers capitalised on a unique communication behaviour known as the waggle dance to investigate honeybee foraging in a deciduous forest region in southern Germany. Forager bees perform this dance to communicate the location, distance, and direction of food sources to their fellow bees.