THERMOREGULATION WITHIN HONEY BEE Apis mellifera COLONY

Thermoregulation within the honey bee, Apis mellifera
jemenitica, and colony was monitored at the apiary belonging to the
Agriculture Research Center, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries,
Muscat, Sultanate of Oman during September, 2007. The temperature
and the relative humidity were recorded at 1-hour intervals / 24 hours
for period of 5 days by using HOBO RH & Temp data logger. Three
groups of colonies (according to its status and strength) were
considered: the 1st headed with good queen and received perfect
colony management (bees covered 10 combs); the 2nd had a high
inbreeding value (bees covered 6 combs) and the 3rd comprised laying
workers (bees covered 4 combs).
In the 1st group the outdoor (outside the hive) temperature and
humidity throughout the day recorded an average of 30.21±2.38 oC &
43.53±5.11%, respectively. The worker bees regulated the colony
conditions inside the hive to reach thermal equilibrium. Whereas the
average ambient temperature and humidity were 35.51±0.24 oC &
54.34±2.31%, respectively for sealed brood, 34.46 ±0.27 oC & 57.94
±0.41%, respectively for open brood / eggs and 33.49±0.49 oC &
53.21±1.27, respectively for empty / honey comb .
In the 2nd group, the mean outdoor temperature was 31.73±1.53
oC and humidity was 59.46±6.79% throughout the day. The sealed
brood, which included in between open brood and empty cells
according to the degree of inbreeding, the worker bees tried to reach
the temperature and humidity to the allowable limits which recorded
34.56±0.31 oC and 53.42±2.31%, respectively. The corresponding
values for the open brood / eggs was 33.13 ±0.17 oC & 53.26±2.77%,
respectively and for empty / honey comb was 31.05±1.59 oC &
41.07±1.13%, respectively.
THERMOREGULATION WITHIN HONEY BEE528
In the 3rd group, which had laying workers, the temperature and
humidity were 31.04±1.75 oC & 60.65±4.52% in outdoor 31.88±1.16
o o
C & 41.59±1.21%for remaining brood / eggs 31.76±1.36 C &
44.89±0.93% for eggs / empty and 31.09±1.54 oC & 48.82±0.75% for
empty / honey, respectively.