Effect of formic acid treatment on <em>Apis mellifera</em> foraging behavior as assayed using nanopore metabarcoding technologies

The Western honeybee (Apis mellifera) is a crucial contributor to worldwide agriculture and ecological health, but is experiencing wide population declines linked to Varroa mite infection. Formic Acid (FA) has been increasingly used to control for Varroa, yet its effects on A. mellifera hives, particularly the impact it might have on their foraging preferences, remain unclear. In this study, we used a combination of pollen DNA metabarcoding with real-time nanopore sequencing to assess how FA treatment influences A. mellifera foraging preferences. DNA sequencing was performed on pollen samples from six University of Utah campus honeybee hives separated into FA and control treatments. Samples were collected before, during, and after FA application. We amplified trnL, a chloroplast DNA region useful for plant identification, using portable sequencers from Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT). We detected a significant difference in foraging composition between FA-treated and control hives at..., Methods&nbsp; Here, we investigated the effect of Formic Acid (FA) treatment on Apis mellifera foraging using six hives located at the University of Utah campus in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. We leverage metabarcoding technologies on the collected pollen to understand foraging patterns under different FA treatments. Experiment design Hive location and sampling The study utilized six hives, maintained by the University of Utah Beekeeper Society, situated at two different locations: four hives near the Kahlert building (40.766374, -111.837801) and two hives near the Health Science Education Building (HSEB) building (40.769540, -111.834158). Hives from both groups were selected to be either treated with FA or be a control. The Kahlert hives (denoted by first letter ‘K’) corresponded to 2 controls: Km, Kn; 2 FA: Ke, Ks, while HSEB hives (denoted by first letter ‘H’) corresponded to 1 control: Hm; 1 FA: Hw. Kalhert and HSEB hives were 0.47 km apart.&nbsp; Pollen collection Pollen was collecte..., # Data from: Effect of formic acid treatment on *Apis mellifera* foraging behavior as assayed using nanopore metabarcoding technologies Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.xksn02vw8](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.xksn02vw8) ## Description of the data and file structure This data contains DNA reads sequenced from pollen DNA collected by *Apis mellifera* using Oxford Nanopore Technology (ONT). *A. Mellifera* (n=6) received either Formic Acid treatment (to combat *Varroa*) or a placebo treatment. Corbicular pollen was collected using pollen traps at the hive entrance Before, During, and After the treatment period. DNA was isolated from collected pollen samples 1 gram of pollen was diluted in 2 mL of lysis solution. DNA was isolated from collected pollen samples using the Qiagen DNeasy® Plant Pro Kit. DNA samples were individually amplified through PCR, targeting the *trnL* (UAA) c-d chloroplast intronic region, with forward primer 5’-CGAAATCGGTAGACGCTACG-3’ and reverse primer 5’-GGGGATAGAGGGAC...,