This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Researchers have discovered honey beehives act as "living immune systems" that help protect the bee colony, its offspring and food supplies from disease. The finding underlines the need to protect bee habitat to ensure their health.
In an example of insect engineering, each part of the hive—from the beeswax, honey and pollen to the propolis, a sticky material bees collect from plants—is "built in" strategically across different compartments of the hive. The location of these hive materials, combined with their unique antimicrobial and chemical properties, works to repel disease and to encourage helpful fungi and bacteria. This is similar to how the human immune system helps manage both helpful and harmful microbes in our body, such as in our gut.
However, there's a catch. Researchers found the hive's natural defenses depended heavily on the surrounding environment and acted like a mirror to the ecosystem. Honey bees can only build strong hive defense systems from the quality of resources available to create the building materials.
Beehives that were located closer to native bushland or agricultural land showed measurably different chemical defenses, revealing the unseen impact of ecosystems on a hive's capacity to fend off disease. "Hives are not only homes for bees, but also act as their workplaces, restaurants and hospitals, and now we can add immune systems to the list," says lead researcher Dr. "We already know honey, beeswax and propolis have antimicrobial properties independently.
But what came as a surprise was how these materials were placed in the hive wasn't random, but organized. The hive's antimicrobial properties worked together to protect the eggs and larvae, as well as the fermented pollen the bees consume." For the study published in ISME Communications, the researchers collected honey, pollen, beeswax and propolis samples from 24 honey bee colonies across five apiaries at Tocal College, New South Wales, and analyzed their antimicrobial and chemical properties. The team also sampled bees to examine the microbial communities living inside their guts and the antimicrobial properties of their secretions and body tissues.
A beehive is made of beeswax combs that act as storage units. The hive's natural immune system was organized in layers to protect the eggs and larvae at the center of the hive. Hive areas exposed to the outside environment had the strongest natural defenses.
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