Journal of Environmental Biology

Foraging activity of Indian honey bee, Apis cerana in relation to ambient climate variables under tropical conditions 

P. V. Rami Reddy¹*,? T. Rashmi¹ and Abraham Verghese²

¹Division of Entomology and Nematology, Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru-560 089, India

²National Bureau of Agriculturally Important Insects, Bengaluru?560 024, India

*Corresponding Author?s E-mail: pvreddy@iihr.ernet.in 

 Publication Data

Paper received:

23 November 2013

Revised received:

15 March 2014

Accepted:

05 May 2014

Abstract

Climate plays a significant role in influencing the foraging activity and behavior of social insects especially honey bees. Studies were conducted at Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru, India during 2011-13, to assess the effect of four abiotic factors viz., temperature, relative humidity, rainfall and wind speed on the foraging activity of Indian honey bee, Apiscerana F. Foraging activity was determined in terms of the number of worker bees going out of hive to forage and those coming in with pollen or nectar, per five minutes. Daily observations were recorded three times at 8.00 a.m., 12.00 noon and 4.00 p.m. Significant diurnal and seasonal variations were recorded in the foraging activity. Among all climatic factors, maximum temperature (>30oC)was the most crucial one which had negatively affected bee activity with correlation coefficients of -0.72, -0.59 and -0.61 for outgoing bees, pollen and nectar collectors respectively. Regression equation explained up to 68% variation in the number of bees moving out due to maximum temperature. The number of worker bees going out to forage came down significantly at temperature beyond 30?C. Contrary to this, the minimum temperature showed a positive impact on outgoing bees (r = 0.66) and nectar collectors (r = 0.67) while pollen collectors showed no significant correlation. The relative humidity also showed positive impact on the frequency of worker bees moving out of hive (r = 0.69) and those coming in with nectar (r = 0.68) but negatively affected the number of pollen collectors. Diurnal variations showed peak activity of bee foragers between 6.00 and 10.00 a.m. Rainfall hampered foraging activity while wind speed was found to have no significant effect on bee activity.   

 Key words

Apis cerana, Climate, Foraging, Honey bee, Temperature

Copyright ? 2015 Triveni Enterprises. All rights reserved. No part of the Journal can be reproduced in any form without prior permission. Responsibility regarding the authenticity of the data, and the acceptability of the conclusions enforced or derived, rest completely with the author(s).