scholarly journals Observations on the Temperature Regulation and Food Consumption of Honeybees (Apis Mellifera)

1958 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 930-937 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. B. FREE ◽  
YVETTE SPENCER-BOOTH

1. Bees have been kept in groups whose numbers ranged from 10 to 200 bees, at temperatures ranging from 0-40° C. 2. At 40° C. bees in groups of 200 had a higher death-rate than bees in smaller groups. At temperatures of 25-35° C. the death-rate was low and about the same in all groups . Below 25° C. the more bees in a group, the longer they survived. 3. The temperatures of all groups increased with that of their environment, the larger a group, the higher its temperature. The difference between the external temperature and that of the groups decreased with increase in the former until at 35 and 40° C. groups of all sizes were at or slightly below environmental temperature. 4. At temperatures from 20-40° C. the percentage of bees in a group that were clustering was directly related to the size of their group, bees in groups of 10 or 25 hardly clustering at all. At each temperature at 15° C. or below, about the same high percentage of bees clustered in all groups. 5. The amount of food (sugar syrup) consumed per bee increased with decrease in the environmental temperature. Very little water was drunk at environmental temperatures of 25° C. or lower but, at 35° C. and above, relatively enormous quantities were taken. 6. These results have been discussed especially in relation to information on the temperature regulation and food consumption of colonies in winter.

2021 ◽  
Vol 224 (3) ◽  
pp. jeb141309
Author(s):  
Danielle L. Levesque ◽  
Katie E. Marshall

ABSTRACTTemperature is an important environmental factor governing the ability of organisms to grow, survive and reproduce. Thermal performance curves (TPCs), with some caveats, are useful for charting the relationship between body temperature and some measure of performance in ectotherms, and provide a standardized set of characteristics for interspecific comparisons. Endotherms, however, have a more complicated relationship with environmental temperature, as endothermy leads to a decoupling of body temperature from external temperature through use of metabolic heat production, large changes in insulation and variable rates of evaporative heat loss. This has impeded our ability to model endothermic performance in relation to environmental temperature as well as to readily compare performance between species. In this Commentary, we compare the strengths and weaknesses of potential TPC analogues (including other useful proxies for linking performance to temperature) in endotherms and suggest several ways forward in the comparative ecophysiology of endotherms. Our goal is to provide a common language with which ecologists and physiologists can evaluate the effects of temperature on performance. Key directions for improving our understanding of endotherm thermoregulatory physiology include a comparative approach to the study of the level and precision of body temperature, measuring performance directly over a range of body temperatures and building comprehensive mechanistic models of endotherm responses to environmental temperatures. We believe the answer to the question posed in the title could be ‘yes’, but only if ‘performance’ is well defined and understood in relation to body temperature variation, and the costs and benefits of endothermy are specifically modelled.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriela Pinto de Oliveira ◽  
Samir Moura Kadri ◽  
Bruno Giovane Emilio Benaglia ◽  
Paulo Eduardo Martins Ribolla ◽  
Ricardo de Oliveira Orsi

AbstractThe aim of this study wasto evaluate the best energetic foodforuse in the maintenance of honey bee colonies during the off-season. To do this, 20Apis mellifera beehives were used(with five beehives per treatment): CTL,control (without feeding); SJ,sugarcane juice; SS,sugar syrup; and IS,inverted sugar. We evaluated the food consumption, population development, and physiological state (expression of vitellogenin and hexamerin 70agenes)of eachcolony.The results showed that the supplementation of colonieswith sugar syrup resulted in an intermediateconsumption and thebetter development of the colony.In addition, this diet ensured that the colonies were in a good physiological state,as beesfed this diet presentedthe highest relative expression levels of vitellogenin and hexamerin 70ameasuredamong all thediets tested.Therefore, sugar syrup was concluded to be the best artificial energetic food for use in thesupplementation of honey bee colonies during the off-season.


1955 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 428-435 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. S. Hart ◽  
O. Heroux

Oxygen consumption and body temperatures were determined in lemmings at environmental temperatures from 20 °C. to −10 °C. and in rabbits from 20 °C. to −50 °C. Body insulation indices were estimated as the ratio [Formula: see text]. In both species, increase in activity and decrease in temperature led to increases in oxygen consumption that were additive over the temperature range. Oxygen increments of work were independent of environmental temperature in the absence of progressive hypothermia. Work led to increases in body temperature at the upper environmental temperatures and to decreases in body temperature at the lower temperatures. In extreme cold, rabbits became progressively hypothermic during work and there was a decline in oxygen consumption. Body temperatures started to fall at environmental temperatures 18 °C. higher in working than in resting rabbits. Insulation was lower in working than in resting animals. During exercise there appears to be a readjustment of body temperature, insulation, and heat loss until thermal equilibrium is established. The regulation of heat production, within limits, seems to be independent of body-temperature changes during exercise.


1974 ◽  
Vol 82 (3) ◽  
pp. 553-558 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. J. B. O'Neill ◽  
N. Jackson

SUMMARYThe heat production of hens and cockerels of a White Leghorn strain (‘H & N’) was measured after acclimation to environmental temperatures of 16, 23, 27 and 33 °C. No difference in fasting heat production was found between 16 and 23 °C for well-feathered hens in the first few months after moult though there were substantial reductions at 27 °C and above. Both hens and cockerels showed a trend of increasing net availability of metabolizable energy with increasing environmental temperature though this was non-significant. There were significant reductions between 16 and 27 °C in the metabolizable energy requirements for maintenance for both sexes.Results are also given for the heat production of laying hens exposed to short daylight periods and high or low environmental temperatures. Although the mean fasting heat production of the high-temperature group was greater, the difference was not statistically significant.


2016 ◽  
Vol 73 (7) ◽  
pp. 2913-2934 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott W. Powell

Abstract Processes responsible for widespread development of moderately deep cumulonimbi during a transition period before onset of two large-scale convective events associated with the Madden–Julian oscillation in late 2011 are investigated. A regional model (WRF) is capable of rapidly producing an approximately 3-day-long transition period prior to MJO convective onset similar to observed transition periods, during which moderately deep cumulonimbi were prevalent. During transition periods, evaporation in precipitating elements and horizontal advection of moisture away from the clouds in the nearby clear-air environment contributed to humidification below 400 hPa. Nonprecipitating clouds were present in the model mostly between 900 and 950 hPa and had no major impact on tropospheric moistening. Whether nonprecipitating cumuli grew into moderately deep cumulonimbi largely depended on the buoyancy of updrafts that extended into the 700–850-hPa layer. As mean environmental temperatures decreased, the mean cumulus updraft buoyancy in this layer became less negative. The start of two simulated transition periods were marked by rapid decreases in environmental temperature caused by reduction in environmental subsidence and/or increased cooling by advection or radiation. Small, widespread changes in the difference between 700- and 850-hPa environmental and updraft temperatures—on the order of 0.1 K and less than 0.4 K—had important ramifications for whether shallow clouds grew vertically into moderately deep clouds that moistened the troposphere and made it conducive to MJO convective onset.


1955 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 428-435 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. S. Hart ◽  
O. Heroux

Oxygen consumption and body temperatures were determined in lemmings at environmental temperatures from 20 °C. to −10 °C. and in rabbits from 20 °C. to −50 °C. Body insulation indices were estimated as the ratio [Formula: see text]. In both species, increase in activity and decrease in temperature led to increases in oxygen consumption that were additive over the temperature range. Oxygen increments of work were independent of environmental temperature in the absence of progressive hypothermia. Work led to increases in body temperature at the upper environmental temperatures and to decreases in body temperature at the lower temperatures. In extreme cold, rabbits became progressively hypothermic during work and there was a decline in oxygen consumption. Body temperatures started to fall at environmental temperatures 18 °C. higher in working than in resting rabbits. Insulation was lower in working than in resting animals. During exercise there appears to be a readjustment of body temperature, insulation, and heat loss until thermal equilibrium is established. The regulation of heat production, within limits, seems to be independent of body-temperature changes during exercise.


2019 ◽  
pp. 155-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Beltran

Environmental temperature has fitness consequences on ectotherm development, ecology and behaviour. Amphibians are especially vulnerable because thermoregulation often trades with appropriate water balance. Although substantial research has evaluated the effect of temperature in amphibian locomotion and physiological limits, there is little information about amphibians living under extreme temperature conditions. Leptodactylus lithonaetes is a frog allegedly specialised to forage and breed on dark granitic outcrops and associated puddles, which reach environmental temperatures well above 40 ˚C. Adults can select thermally favourable microhabitats during the day while tadpoles are constrained to rock puddles and associated temperature fluctuations; we thus established microhabitat temperatures and tested whether the critical thermal maximum (CTmax) of L. lithonaetes is higher in tadpoles compared to adults. In addition, we evaluated the effect of water temperature on locomotor performance of tadpoles. Contrary to our expectations, puddle temperatures were comparable and even lower than those temperatures measured in the microhabitats used by adults in the daytime. Nonetheless, the CTmax was 42.3 ˚C for tadpoles and 39.7 ˚C for adults. Regarding locomotor performance, maximum speed and maximum distance travelled by tadpoles peaked around 34 ˚C, approximately 1 ˚C below the maximum puddle temperatures registered in the puddles. In conclusion, L. lithonaetes tadpoles have a higher CTmax compared to adults, suggesting a longer exposure to extreme temperatures that lead to maintain their physiological performance at high temperatures. We suggest that these conditions are adaptations to face the strong selection forces driven by this granitic habitat.


Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 2190
Author(s):  
Patrycja Skowronek ◽  
Łukasz Wójcik ◽  
Aneta Strachecka

In the study, we assessed the effect of hemp extract on activities of resistance parameters and the metabolic compound concentration in adult workers’ hemolymph. Bees were divided into the following groups: (1) control group fed with mixture of sugar and water-glycerine solution, (2) experimental group with pure sugar syrup and inside with cotton strips soaked with hemp extract, (3) experimental group with a mixture of sugar syrup with hemp extract. Hemp extracts caused an increase in the protein concentrations and reduced the protease activities regardless of the administration method. The protease inhibitor activities were decreased only in the group that received hemp extract on the strips. The biomarker activities (ALP, ALT, AST) increased from the control group and workers feeding extract in syrup and decreased in workers supplemented with the extract on strips. In young, 2-day-old workers, the glucose concentration was higher in the groups feeding with the extract than in the control. Hemp extract influenced an increase in urea concentrations in workers’ hemolymph in comparison with the control. The hemp supplementation positively influences the immune system of workers, and the appropriate method of administration may be adapted to the health problems of bees.


1967 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. W. Holme ◽  
W. E. Coey

A trial designed to investigate the effects of two environmental temperatures, three feeding regimes and the interactions between them is described. A temperature of 72° F. was better than one of 54° F. for bacon pigs between 40 lb. and 200 lb. weight. The higher temperature resulted in faster growth, more efficient feed conversion and increased length of carcass. Other carcass characteristics were not significantly altered. Ad libitum feeding resulted in faster growth and fatter carcasses than restricted feeding, but did not have a significant effect on efficiency of feed conversion. When feed intake was restricted, feeding pigs once daily or twice daily resulted in similar performance and carcass composition.There was a significant interaction between environmental temperature and feeding method for average daily gain in that pigs fed ad libitum grew faster at the low temperature and pigs fed restricted amounts of feed grew faster at the high temperature. No other interaction reached significant levels.


1996 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 337-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Neil ◽  
B. Ogle ◽  
K. Annèr

AbstractEffects of a two-diet system combined withad libitumlactation feeding of sows on food consumption, sow live weight (LW), backfat depth, condition scoring, rebreeding interval, symptoms of agalactia and culling were studied on 60 sows followed for four parities. Feeding regimes were: CR, conventional i.e. restricted during gestation and lactation; SA, a simplified diet offered at a restricted level during gestation and a conventional dietad libitumduring lactation; CA, conventional during gestation and the same dietad libitumduring lactation. During lactation CR sows consumed 5·9 kg food daily (71 MJ metabolizable energy (ME)), whereas SA and CA sows consumed on average 7·0 kg (85 MJ ME), the difference being larger in multiparous than in primiparous sows and larger in the first than in later weeks of lactation. From the second farrowing onward sows on CR treatment were lighter and had thinner backfat and lower condition scores than sows on CA treatment, with sows on SA treatment in between, i.e. approaching the CR sows in the gestation periods and the CA sows in the lactation periods. At first service LW was 130 kg and backfat thickness 14 mm. During the fourth lactation LW averaged 190 kg in CR sows and around 220 kg for SA and CA sows, and backfat thickness was 11 mm in CR sows and around 16 mm in SA and CA sows. SA sows tended to rebreed earlier after weaning than did CR or CA sows. CA sows and in particular SA sows had higher incidences of agalactia symptoms and higher rectal temperatures post partum than CR sows. The culling rates did not differ between feeding regimes, although the predominant causes for culling did, being shoulder lesions and abscesses in thin CR sows and leg disorders in SA and CA sows. At the end of the experiment, however, more SA sows than others were retained in the experimental herd. It was concluded that the SA feeding regime was superior in terms of sow performance, despite an increased incidence of agalactia symptoms.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document