Quantifying the impact of crop coverings on honey bee orientation and foraging in sweet cherry orchards using RFID

Advancements in agricultural production have seen the rapid adoption of protected cropping systems globally. Such systems have been optimized for plant growth and efficiency, with little understanding of the potential impacts to key insect pollinators. Here, we investigate the effect of bird netting and polythene rain covers on the health and performance of honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) during the pollination of sweet cherry crops. Over two consecutive seasons, 12 full-strength colonies were equipped with tagged bees and radio frequency identification (RFID) systems. The colonies were equally divided between open control, bird netted and polythene (semi-permanent VOEN in 2019 and retractable Cravo in 2020) groups. Over 1300 individual bees were monitored for the duration of the commercial pollination period to determine behavioural parameters such as foraging commencement age, number and duration of trips and overall survival. Bees began foraging within the optimum age range (mean 15.7-24.1 days) under all covering types, with little indication of prolonged stress or increased mortality during the short season. Polythene covers (VOEN & Cravo) were found to significantly increase the total time needed for bees to orientate successfully. Once orientated, bees placed under covers conducted up to 155% more foraging trips, with a longer cumulative duration. Covering type was found to significantly impact the amount and type of pollen collected, with the most restrictive system (VOEN) yielding the highest proportion of cherry pollen. Overall, we found little evidence to suggest that the tested protective covers have a detrimental impact to honey bee foraging in cherry crops.