For each colony, the loss rate (proportion of foragers lost per hour) was calculated using the formula: loss rate=(number of lost foragers/total number of foragers)/total flight time of foragers (h). Foragers that did not return on the last day of observations, or on a day before

a break in non-consecutive observations, were excluded from analyses. This is because such workers might not have been lost, but returned after the termination of experiments. Population loss rates were compared using a selleck chemical mixed general linear model, using colony as a random factor. We also explored whether variation in body mass affected mortality. Paired t-tests were used to assess potential differences in body mass between lost bees versus bees that returned to the colony (21 colonies). Body masses of the foragers tested during the experiment in Sardinia 2000 (from three colonies) were not available; thus only masses of 22 (of 25) colonies

were available for this analysis. A further colony was excluded from this analysis as no bees were lost during the entire experiment. Body mass in B. terrestris ABT-263 clinical trial is strongly correlated with body size (Goulson et al., 2002; Spaethe & Weidenmüller, 2002). For consistency across lost and returning bees, we used the departure mass of each bee on its first foraging bout. The numbers of bees tested and the total flight times analysed are presented for each colony in Table 1. It was found that the white tip of the abdomen in all populations reflects UV light strongly, except the Corsican B. t. xanthopus, whose tail is orange-red and UV absorbing (Figs 1a and 2a). The receptor signals in an insectivorous bird’s eye of the black, yellow and white body parts were indistinguishable between populations (Kruskal–Wallis test; P>0.1 for all comparisons). Black body parts generate low quantum catches in all receptors (Fig. 2b), whereas white parts stimulate all receptors, although signals Celastrol fall somewhat from long to short wave photoreceptors.

Note that the relatively strong UV signals in these white body regions is in marked contrast with most flowers that appear white to humans – such flowers typically absorb all UV light (below c. 400 nm: Kevan, Giurfa & Chittka, 1996). The white segments of the abdomen did not produce any between-population differences in visual appearance to birds for the populations for which we collected data on loss rates. In future, it would be interesting to test B. t. xanthopus, whose coloration, including UV reflectance, differs entirely from all other populations of the species (Figs 1a and 2). Other body parts in all populations are UV absorbing, but between-population differences in the distribution of colours in the (human) visible light spectrum are clearly discriminable to avian predators.