HIVE TEMPERATURE REGULATION BY HONEYBEES IN RESPONSE TO EXTREME CONDITIONS

Abstract

Honeybees are considered the primary pollinators of agricultural crops. However, climate change, pesticide use, disease transmission and pests all have an impact on their survival. Temperature is an important consideration, especially when bees are subjected to harsh conditions as a result of the effort required to regulate them within their hives. The brood chamber should be kept between 33 and 35 °C. The recognized temperature thresholds are 6 and 38 °C; deviations above or below these values cause metabolic damage in honeybees; the larger the difference, the greater the stress. These eusocial insects have developed thermoregulating mechanisms in response to adverse environmental conditions; the colony compensates for this difference by either fanning their wings to create air circulation and cause evaporative cooling or raising the temperature by generating endothermic heat to raise the temperature of the breeding chamber. This review brings together the most important and updated references on how to improve colony thermoregulation and its relationship to climate change.