Integrating behaviour and microbiomes into considerations of bee health

Relationships between individuals play an important role in their behaviour and health, ranging from interactions between individuals to symbioses with microorganisms. Defining bee health may benefit from examining these relationships at different levels of biological organization, suggesting that bee genetics could be influencing microbial communities or that the social microbiome may be a unique way of characterizing pollinator health. Here, we review research in bee behaviour and microbiomes to examine different perspectives influencing health and how factors such as an individual's physiology, genetics, behaviour, social role, and environment can interact with its microbiota. As the role of the microbiome is explored across wild bee species and sociality, examining these factors together rather than in isolation provides a more comprehensive understanding of microbial communities and their impact on their bee hosts. Considering increasing environmental threats to bees, holistic perspectives can inform conservation efforts and actionable methods to support pollinators in altered environments.