The protein levels in honey bee-collected pollen on Oahu affect Varroa destructor’s parasitism ability

Honey bees, Apis mellifera, visit many different plants and on Hawai’i, however, the plants they are visiting in Hawai’i is largely unknown. Honey bees are primarily used for honey and queen production in Hawai’i, so they are able to freely visit any plants they can fly to. Most native plants in Hawai’i are bird or beetle pollinated, there are very few such plants that rely on bees for pollination, while a lot of non-native or invasive plants may be benefiting from or relying on honey bee pollination. Here, we use the color of pollen balls being retrieved by honey bees as a proxy for plant species. Bee-collected pollen was collected monthly from Lihue, Kauai, then sorted by color as a proxy for plant species and weighed. The sorted pollen balls were color matched between months allowing us to see patterns and diversity of plants visited by honey bees. These results show a wide range diversity each month and a lot of variation between months at the same location. Follow up studies will continue to expand our understanding of plants visited by honey bees on the 4 major Hawaiian Islands and give us insight into whether honey bees are encouraging the spread of non-native or invasive plants.