Editing Bee pollen (section)

==Details==
[[File:Bee pollen cell vertically stacked.jpg|thumb|Vertical dissection of cells from a comb, showing the packing of different types of pollen over time]]
In honeybees (''Apis'' species) pollen is stored in the chambers of the hives. It differs from field-gathered pollen as honeybee secretions induce a fermentation process, where biochemical transformations break down the walls of flower pollen grains and render the nutrients more readily available.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last1=Mutsaers |first1=Marieke |last2=van Blitterswijk |first2=Henk |last3=van‘t Leven |first3=Leen |last4=Kerkvliet |first4=Jaap |last5=van de Waerdt |first5=Jan |year=2005 |title=Bee products properties, processing and marketing |url=http://teca.fao.org/sites/default/files/resources/Agromisa-AD-42-E%201%20beekeeping%20manual%20.pdf |location=[[Wageningen]] |publisher=Agromisa Foundation |pages=34–35 |isbn=978-90-8573-028-6 |access-date=2018-04-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180404073228/http://teca.fao.org/sites/default/files/resources/Agromisa-AD-42-E%201%20beekeeping%20manual%20.pdf |archive-date=2018-04-04 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Forager bees that gather pollen do not eat it themselves, since they stop producing the proteolytic enzymes necessary to digest it when they transition to foraging. The foragers unload the pollen they gather directly into open cells located at the interface between the brood and stored honey, creating a typical band of what is called bee bread – the substance which is the main food source for honeybee larvae and workers.

Foraging bees bring pollen back to the hive, where they pass it off to other worker bees, who pack the pollen into cells with their heads. During collection and possibly packing, the pollen is mixed with nectar and bee salivary secretions, signaling the start of the lactic fermentation process.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bogdanov |first=Stefan |title=The Pollen Book |year=2017 |orig-year=2011 |chapter-url=http://www.bee-hexagon.net/pollen/ |volume=2 |chapter=Chapter 2:Pollen: Nutrition, Functional Properties, Health |publisher=Bee Product Science |pages=1–31 |access-date=2022-04-04 |archive-date=2019-07-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190719064141/http://www.bee-hexagon.net/pollen/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Bee pollen is the primary source of protein for the hive.<ref name="SammataroAvitabile1998">{{cite book|last1=Sammataro|first1=Diana|last2=Avitabile|first2=Alphonse|title=The Beekeeper's Handbook|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZLLB2fh55aQC|year=1998|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=978-0-8014-8503-9|page=60|access-date=2018-04-03|archive-date=2020-06-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200625211012/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZLLB2fh55aQC|url-status=live}}</ref>

Bees other than ''Apis'' typically form pollen into balls; these are primarily ground-nesting bees or twig-nesting bees, most of which are solitary, such as [[Megachile|leafcutter bees]].<ref name=usda>{{cite web|title=Examination of "pollen Balls" in the nests of the Alfalfa Leafcutting Bee, ''Megachile rotundata''|url=https://www.ars.usda.gov/research/publications/publications.htm?seq_no_115=150465|work=[[United States Department of Agriculture]]|publisher=Agricultural Research Service|access-date=10 September 2011|archive-date=9 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120209200353/http://www.ars.usda.gov/research/publications/publications.htm?seq_no_115=150465|url-status=live}}</ref> With the leafcutter bee, as in most such bees, when the pollen ball is complete, the female lays an egg on top of the pollen ball, and seals the brood cell. The egg hatches and the larva consumes the pollen directly; the pollen is not stored separately from the brood.<ref name=vernal>{{cite web |url=http://www.vernalpools.org/Thorp/ |title=Vernal pool flowers and their specialist bee pollinators |last=Thorp |first=Robbin W. |date=5 March 2013 |publisher=California Vernal Pools |access-date=5 October 2012 |archive-date=7 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181007163555/http://www.vernalpools.org/Thorp/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> This method of pollen usage can also be seen in the wood-nesting bee species ''[[Xylocopa sulcatipes]]''<ref>Gerling, Dan; Hurd, Paul David; Hefetz, Abraham (1983). Comparative behavioral biology of two Middle East species of carpenter bees (''Xylocopa'' Latreille)(Hymenoptera: Apoidea). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology. Smithsonian Institution Press.</ref> and ''[[Xylocopa sonorina]]''.