Chemometric Classification of Comb and Cuticular Waxes of the Honeybee Apis Mellifera Carnica |
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Authors: | Birgit Fröhlich Jürgen Tautz Markus Riederer |
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Affiliation: | (1) Julius-von-Sachs-Institut für Biowissenschaften mit Botanischem Garten, Lehrstuhl für Botanik II-Ökophysiologie und Vegetationsökologie, Universität Würzburg, Julius-von-Sachs-Platz 3, D-97082 Würzburg, Germany;(2) Lehrstuhl für Verhaltensphysiologie und Soziobiologie (Zoologie II), Am Hubland, Theodor-Boveri-Institut für Biowissenschaften, D-97074 Würzburg, Germany |
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Abstract: | Waxes are important as building material and for the chemical communication of the honeybee Apis mellifera carnica. In this study chemometric tools were established for classifying the different waxes inside the hive. By using gas chromatography in combination with mass spectrometry, components of different types of waxes were analyzed. By considering different substance classes of waxes, discriminant function analyses revealed distinct subtypes of comb waxes and of cuticular waxes. It is shown that the aging of comb wax is in part a spontaneous physicochemical process due to differential volatilities of compound classes with different chain length ranges. On the other hand it is directly influenced by the bees by adding lipolytic enzymes to the comb wax. The data suggest that the varying cuticular wax and comb wax compositions could serve as cues for bees to recognize castes, sexes, or comb age. |
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Keywords: | Apis mellifera carnica Pollm. comb wax cuticular wax gas chromatography mass spectrometry chemometric classification discriminant function analysis |
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