Honey bees forage on a variety of pollen and nectar sources that change through the season. Using stable isotopic analysis, we investigated seasonal changes in carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios during their foraging seasons. From March to October 2023 and 2024, 200 bees were removed monthly from hives at the Kentucky State University Farm in Frankfort, KY. Ten midguts were pooled, dried, and placed into each of twenty vials. In addition, during the summer of 2024, five hives were sampled twice to investigate within-hive isotopic patterns. Twenty samples of pupa, pollen, and thorax muscle tissue from adult bees were sampled for each hive. All samples were analyzed for δ13C and δ15N at the University of Kentucky Stable Isotope Laboratory. The significance and implications of this data are discussed.
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