The Effect of the Size of Honeybee Colonies on Food Consumption, Brood Rearing and the Longevity of the Bees During Winter

Abstract

Near Harpenden, Hertfordshire, brood rearing continues later into the autumn in small than in large colonies, and in colonies headed by queens of the current year than by queens of the previous year. In spring the amount of brood present increases with colony size, but there is more brood per bee in small than in large colonies. Food consumption per bee during winter decreased with increase in colony size, especially in colonies with fewer than 18,000 bees. The size of a colony in spring was related directly to its size in the previous autumn, and the proportion of bees that survived the winter was similar in large and small colonies. ZUSAMMENFASSUNG DIE WIRKUNG DER GRÖSSE VON HONIGBIENEN‐VÖLKERN AUF NAHRUNGSVERBRAUCH, BRUT UND LEBENSDAUER DER WINTERBIENEN In der Umgebung von Harnenden, Hertfordshire, erstreckt sich die Bruttätigkeit bei kleinen Völkern und bei Völkern mit diesjährigen Königinnen weiter in den Herbst hinein als bei großen und bei Völkern mit vorjährigen Königinnen. Im Frühjahr steigt der Brutanteil mit der Größe des Volkes an, jedoch haben kleine Völker mehr Brut pro Biene als große. Der Nahrungsverbrauch pro Biene nimmt im Winter mit zunehmender Größe des Volkes ab, besonders bei Völkern mit weniger als 18000 Bienen. Bezieht man die Größe des Volkes im Frühjahr direkt auf seine Größe im vergangenen Herbst, dann erweist sich das Verhältnis der überwinternden Bienen bei großen und kleinen Völkern als ähnlich.

Survival strategies of stingless bees (Melipona subnitida) in an unpredictable environment, the Brazilian tropical dry forest

“…Thus, in line with similar findings for other stingless bee species (Roubik 1982;Ribeiro et al 2003;Nunes-Silva et al 2010a) and for honey bees (Seeley 1985;Schneider and McNally 1992b), M. subnitida down-regulated its brood production in periods of food scarcity and concomitant decline in pollen collection (Figure 3). Owing to the reduced rearing of new brood, the populations of bee colonies decrease over time (Free and Racey 1968). This, together with the reduced activity of the remaining adults, results in a diminished consumption of the stored food reserves, which are fundamental for the colonies to quickly restart their activity (foraging and brood production) as soon as forage availability begins to increase (McNally and Schneider 1992;Ribeiro et al 2003;Nunes-Silva et al 2010a).…”

Invitation Paper (C.P. Alexander Fund): Foraging of Individual Workers in Relation to Colony State in the Social Hymenoptera

“…The number of swarms that a colony can produce is positively related to the amount of sealed brood at the time when the prime swarm issues (Winston 1979(Winston , 1980. Other studies show a positive relationship between colony population size and total brood production (Farrar 1944;Free and Racey 1968;Moeller 1958Moeller , 1961Nelson and Jay 1972;Smirl and Jay 1972). Honey production (an important fitness component as it relates to winter survival) is not necessarily a simple function of colony size (Farrar 1937;Woyke 1984).…”

Order, Disorder, Death: Lessons from a Superorganism

“…The colonies' defense systems are destabilized (Schneider and McNally, 1992), the workers become more accepting of abnormal individuals including diploid drones (Polaczek et al, 2000), the colonies' foraging efforts are less efficient (Eckert et al, 1994), and the ability to regulate the nest environment can collapse (Omholt, 1987). The proximate mechanisms responsible for the collective loss of surveillance functions are not well understood compared to the principles that underlie the foraging and thermal properties of healthy honeybee colonies (Anderson and Ratnieks, 1999;Bourke, 1999;Eckert et al, 1994;Free and Racey, 1968;Fukuda, 1983;Seeley, 1995;Wilson et al, 1999). Yet, it is clear that features of the social connectivity of the honeybee society are compromised in units that are very small (Villumstad, 1977).…”