Thermoregulation of water collecting honey bees (Apis mellifera)

Honey bees (Apis mellifera carnica, Apidae, Hymenoptera) visited a pond in order to collect water, During their stays at the pond the body surface temperature of water foragers was measured using contactless thermography. Irrespective of the ambient temperature (T-A) which ranged from 13.6 to 27.2 degrees C, the water carriers reached thoracic temperatures of 36-38.8 degrees C (mean values of the measuring periods). The maximum thoracic value of an individual bee was 44.5 degrees C. At higher T-A (20.9-27.2 degrees C) head and abdomen were only about 3 degrees C and 2 degrees C on the average higher than the surroundings, respectively. In the lower range of T-A (13.6-16.6 degrees C), however, the bees warmed their heads up to 29.2 degrees C (13 degrees C above T-A) and the abdomen up to 23.3 degrees C (7.1 degrees C above T-A; mean values of the measuring periods). The head and abdomen were even provided independently of one another with heat from the thorax. At a higher T-A only little heat came from the heated thorax into the abdomen, at a cooler T-A (13.6-16.6 degrees C) more heat reached the abdomen. In all probability, at a higher T-A only a small amount of haemolymph was pumped from the thorax into the abdomen; the most warm blood probably circulated in the head-thorax area. The average duration of stays at the pond decreased linearly from 110 to 42 s with rising T-A. Head and thorax showed great fluctuations of temperature. For example, the head was heated by 4.6 degrees C within 25 s, the thorax by 6.1 degrees C within 30 s. Foragers drinking sucrose solution are known to increase their thoracic temperature with rising concentration of the sucrose solution. The water foragers had thoracic temperatures similar to that of bees feeding on 0.5 molar sucrose solution. It is hypothesized that the foraging motivation of both groups was similar and therefore they regulated their thoraces at the same temperature level. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.