Factors Influencing the Reproductive Ability of Male Bees: Current Knowledge and Further Directions

Honeybees are very important pollinators and play a vital role in agricultural and natural ecosystems. The quality of their colonies is determined by the queens and the reproductive drones of mother colonies. Therefore, factors affecting drone fecundity will also directly affect progeny at the colony level. Here, we review environmental and bee-related factors that are closely related to drone reproductive ability. The environmental factors that mainly affect the sperm count and the viability of males include temperature, nutrients and pesticides. Based on the results of previous studies, we also suggest that the effects of somatotype dimorphism of males and queens on sperm quality and queen fecundity should be given more attention in further studies.