QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Cooper, P. D. Articles by Buchmann, S. L. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Cooper, P. D. Articles by Buchmann, S. L.

Journal of Experimental Biology 114,1-15 (1985)
Published by Company of Biologists 1985

Temperature Regulation of Honey Bees (Apis Mellifera) Foraging in the Sonoran Desert

Paul D. Cooper ¹, William M. Schaffer ², and Stephen L. Buchmann ³

¹ Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, U.S.A.: Department of Zoology, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia 3083.
² Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, U.S.A.
³ USDA-ARS Carl Hayden Bee Research Center, Tucson, Arizona 85719 and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, U.S.A.

A heat budget for foraging honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) indicated that at 30–35°C all bees are in positive heat balance during flight. Observations of honey bees returning to their hives at high ambient temperatures support the conjecture that honey bees regulate head and thorax temperatures at high T_a by regurgitating droplets of honey stomach contents which are then evaporated. The proportion of returning bees with a droplet on the tongue increased with increasing shade temperature (T_s), from essentially no bees at 20°C to 40% of returning bees at 40°C. Pollen foragers carry relatively little fluid during the hottest periods, and pollen foraging decreased at high ambient temperatures. Thoracic temperatures of pollen collectors are significantly higher than thoracic temperatures of water and nectar gatherers at 40°C (46.13 vs 44°C). Additionally, water and nectar foragers with extruded droplets have slightly cooler heads and thoraces (38.94 and 43.22°C) than bees not extruding droplets (40.28 and 44.18°C). Wingloading and thoracic temperatures of bees are inversely correlated at high ambient temperatures (35°C) and this is probably caused by a higher propensity of heavier bees to extrude fluid, thus reducing thoracic temperature.

Key words: Temperature regulation, honey bees, Apis mellifera, evaporative cooling, heat balance, deserts.

Accepted on June 26, 1984

This article has been cited by other articles:

				W. A. Woods Jr, B. Heinrich, and R. D. Stevenson Honeybee flight metabolic rate: does it depend upon air temperature? J. Exp. Biol., March 15, 2005; 208(6): 1161 - 1173. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				E. Feuerbacher, J. H. Fewell, S. P. Roberts, E. F. Smith, and J. F. Harrison Effects of load type (pollen or nectar) and load mass on hovering metabolic rate and mechanical power output in the honey bee Apis mellifera J. Exp. Biol., June 1, 2003; 206(11): 1855 - 1865. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. Roberts and J. Harrison Mechanisms of thermal stability during flight in the honeybee apis mellifera J. Exp. Biol., January 6, 1999; 202(11): 1523 - 1533. [Abstract] [PDF]