Internal hive temperature as a means of monitoring honey bee colony health in a migratory beekeeping operation before and during winter

Meikle, William G.; Weiss, Milagra; Maes, Patrick; Fitz, William; Snyder, Lucy; Sheehan, Tim; Mott, Brendon M.; Anderson, Kirk E.

doi:10.1007/s13592-017-0512-8

Cited by 69 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 28 publications

(35 reference statements)

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“…However, our F2 temperature results suggest that effects of neonicotinoids on individual bees may not scale up to cause colony-level dysfunction. The lack of a treatment effect on temperature regulation in our study contrasts with Colin et al (2019) [33], who demonstrated that colonies chronically exposed to 5 ng/g of the neonicotinoid imidacloprid through sugar syrup had higher average overwinter in-hive temperatures and decreased colony temperature variability, and Meikle et al (2017) [34] who observed that a history of commercial pollination activity and agrochemical exposure was associated with lower overwinter internal colony temperatures and increased colony temperature variability. These inconsistent results regarding the effect of pesticide exposure on colony temperature regulation may be explained by variation in overwintering climate and beekeeping practices.…”

Section: Effects Of Thiamethoxam On Overwintering Colonies Of Apis Mecontrasting

confidence: 98%

Chronic High-Dose Neonicotinoid Exposure Decreases Overwinter Survival of Apis mellifera L.

Wood

Kozii

Mattos

et al. 2019

Insects

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Overwinter colony mortality is an ongoing challenge for North American beekeepers. During winter, honey bee colonies rely on stored honey and beebread, which is frequently contaminated with the neonicotinoid insecticides clothianidin and thiamethoxam. To determine whether neonicotinoid exposure affects overwinter survival of Apis mellifera L., we chronically exposed overwintering field colonies and winter workers in the laboratory to thiamethoxam or clothianidin at different concentrations and monitored survival and feed consumption. We also investigated the sublethal effects of chronic thiamethoxam exposure on colony pathogen load, queen quality, and colony temperature regulation. Under field conditions, high doses of thiamethoxam significantly increased overwinter mortality compared to controls, with field-realistic doses of thiamethoxam showing no significant effect on colony overwinter survival. Under laboratory conditions, chronic neonicotinoid exposure significantly decreased survival of winter workers relative to negative control at all doses tested. Chronic high-dose thiamethoxam exposure was not shown to impact pathogen load or queen quality, and field-realistic concentrations of thiamethoxam did not affect colony temperature homeostasis. Taken together, these results demonstrate that chronic environmental neonicotinoid exposure significantly decreases survival of winter workers in the laboratory, but only chronic high-dose thiamethoxam significantly decreases overwinter survival of colonies in the field.

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Section: Effects Of Thiamethoxam On Overwintering Colonies Of Apis Mecontrasting

confidence: 98%

Chronic High-Dose Neonicotinoid Exposure Decreases Overwinter Survival of Apis mellifera L.

Wood

Kozii

Mattos

et al. 2019

Insects

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“…Temperature control by honey bees is crucial for brood rearing (Stabentheiner et al 2010) and some degree of temperature control is evident among groups of bees even in the absence of brood (Meikle et al 2017). Maintaining the cluster temperature is a metabolically expensive activity of the colony for much of the year (Gates 1914;Milner 1921).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Maintaining the cluster temperature is a metabolically expensive activity of the colony for much of the year (Gates 1914;Milner 1921). Internal hive temperature over time has been linked to changes in colony size and phenology (Meikle et al 2016b(Meikle et al , 2017 and thus can be a useful variable to monitor hive status. In a Table S4).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of bee density and sublethal imidacloprid exposure on cluster temperatures of caged honey bees

Meikle

Adamczyk²,

Weiss

et al. 2018

Apidologie

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Survivorship, syrup consumption, and cluster temperatures of honey bees were kept in hoarding cages with different numbers of bees. Cages with either 50, 100, 150, or 200 bees each were monitored over 4-6 weeks in incubators with 12h/12h 30°C/15°C temperature cycles to induce clustering. Survivorship and syrup consumption rates per bee were not different among the bee density groups, but cluster temperatures were. Cluster temperatures ranged from 0.45°C above incubator temperature in the 50 bee cages to 4.05°C in the 200 bee cages over the 1st 7 days, with each additional bee adding on average 0.02°C to cluster temperature. In another set of experiments, cages were established with about 200 bees each, and imidacloprid added to the syrup at 0, 5, 20, and 100 ppb. Imidacloprid in the syrup did not affect bee survivorship but it did reduce syrup consumption per bee, with bees fed 100 ppb imidacloprid syrup consuming on average 631 mg per bee over 28 days while average consumption among the other groups ranged from 853 to 914 mg. Cluster temperature was affected by imidacloprid treatment: bees fed 5 ppb imidacloprid syrup had higher cluster temperatures over the 1st 10 days, 4.17°C above incubator temperature, than either bees fed 100 ppb syrup or control (2.35 and 3.19°C, respectively).

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“…The area of sealed brood per frame was estimated later from the frame photographs using either ImageJ software (version 1.47. W. Rasband, National Institutes of Health, USA), or CombCount; 38 this method has been described in other publications (see 8,13,16,25 ). Any colony that had capped brood was included in the study.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Landscape factors influencing honey bee colony behavior in Southern California commercial apiaries

Meikle

Weiss

Beren

2020

Sci Rep

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Colony brood levels, frames of bees (adult bee mass) and internal hive temperature were monitored for 60 colonies for each of two years as they were moved from agricultural, tree crop and mountain landscapes in southern California to blueberry and almond pollination sites. Hive weight was also continuously monitored for 20 of those hives for 6 weeks for both years, during commercial pollination. Pesticide residues in wax, honey and beebread samples were analyzed by composite apiary samples. While colonies in mountain sites had more adult bees and brood than those in agricultural sites in August, by October brood levels were higher in colonies from agricultural sites. Though hives from different original landscapes differed in size in October, hive assessments revealed no differences between the groups after co-wintering when graded for commercial almond pollination. Beebread from hives in agricultural sites had greater agrochemical diversity and in general higher pesticide hazard quotients than those from mountain sites, but those hives also had higher and more constant temperatures from September until January than hives from mountain sites. Hives placed in commercial almond pollination gained on average 287 g per d, compared to an average loss of 68 g per d for colonies in commercial blueberry pollination, although weight data indicated greater foraging effort by colonies in blueberries, possibly due to the proximity and abundance of almond pollen during bloom. Temperature monitoring was effective at distinguishing hive groups and had the best overall value in terms of equipment, installation, colony disturbance and information yield.

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Internal hive temperature as a means of monitoring honey bee colony health in a migratory beekeeping operation before and during winter

Cited by 69 publications

References 28 publications

Chronic High-Dose Neonicotinoid Exposure Decreases Overwinter Survival of Apis mellifera L.

Chronic High-Dose Neonicotinoid Exposure Decreases Overwinter Survival of Apis mellifera L.

Effects of bee density and sublethal imidacloprid exposure on cluster temperatures of caged honey bees

Landscape factors influencing honey bee colony behavior in Southern California commercial apiaries

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