Monitoring of hive weight changes in various landscapes

Abstract

Bee development is determined by the quantity and quality of food resources available in the environment that can be used by bees only to a certain extent. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate, by means of changes in hive weight, the amount of food collected by honey bees in various landscapes, in relation to meteorological conditions, landscape, and forest structure. The monitored colonies (n = 104) were placed on electronic beehive scales, which provided data about hive weight, temperature, and humidity over two beekeeping seasons. The landscape valuation within a 2 km radius from each beehive was prepared based on digital maps. The seasonal distribution of food resources collected by honey bees was determined based on hive weight changes analysed in 5-day-periods (i.e. pentads). The hive weight changes mainly depended on the observation period and the air temperature. The hive weight increased from April to the last 10 days of June and when the air temperature was over 24 °C. The proportions of agricultural lands and forests, as well as the air humidity, had a small effect on hive weight changes. Continuous monitoring of the weight of honey bee colonies on a large scale showed that honey bees collected food stores in their nests mainly in the spring. Then, they collected a small amount of food, probably due to limited access to food resources from the last 10 days of June until the end of the growing season.