Seasonal resource scarcity reduces risk sensitivity and conflict communication in honey bees

Balancing risk and reward is fundamental to adaptive decision-making in humans and other animals. It is well-known that honey bees (<i>Apis mellifera</i> L.) forage more persistently on higher quality floral resources, and that they are more likely to use a social signal, the waggle dance, to recruit nestmates to these resources. If resources become scarce, foragers are more likely to accept and recruit for lower value rewards. The factors that impact perception and communication of risk, in contrast, are poorly understood. Honey bees are known to be risk-averse, performing an inhibitory “stop signal” to prevent nestmate recruitment to dangerous resources. However, resource scarcity in late summer triggers an aggressive and risky foraging strategy called honey robbingwhere honey bees switch from collecting nectar from flowers to fighting with other honey bees to steal stored honey from their hives. Despite attacks from victim bees, foragers persist in recruiting their nestmates to steal food, suggesting their risk tolerance increases with resource scarcity. We tested the hypothesis that seasonal changes in resource availability and honey robbing incidence correspond to seasonal changes in forager perception and communication of risk. We found that foragers become less likely to produce inhibitory stop signals during periods of seasonal resource scarcity. Concurrently, foragers are more persistent at resources despite being attacked. Our findings reveal a dynamic, environmentally induced shift in risk perception and social communication, suggesting that bees adopt riskier behaviors to optimize colony survival during resource scarcity. Understanding how risk and reward act in combination to shape foraging behavior is critical for predicting pollination performance in human-impacted ecosystems.