The Impact of Environment on the Morphometric Characteristics of Honeybees Apis Mellifera Carnica in South-East Kazakhstan

Abstract

Morphometric characteristics of honey bees (length and width of wings, number of roots) depend on the environmental conditions (in particular, the temperature regime) in which individuals develop. The purpose of the study is to determine the distribution of honey bees and a comparative analysis of their morphometric indicators in various climatic zones of South-Eastern Kazakhstan. The main climatic zones of the studied territory were (1) Mountainous and (2) Foothill zones covering the Tien Shan Mountain system and characterized by cold, snowy winters and cool summers, (3) Steppe zone characterized by a continental climate, and (4) Desert zone. The wing data were compared with reference samples from the bee morphometric data bank in Oberursel, Germany. The resolution of the reference images was 1096 DOI. The reference sample for Apis mellifera carnica consisted of 10 colonies originating from Slovenia. The study was conducted on 12 farms bred in various zones of South-Eastern Kazakhstan, including a reference sample, according to 11 main morphometric characteristics of worker bees. The length of the proboscis ranges from 6.21±0.04 mm to 6.35±0.02 mm, while they do not differ from the control ones. The number of hamuli in the main samples averaged 19.6 pcs. compared with Kerbulak, Almaty 20.50±0.42 pcs. And the control group was 21.50±1.3 pcs. (p≤0.05). Differences on this basis between populations reach the first threshold of confidence probability (p>0.95). The range of the cubital index in all the studied groups ranges from 2.27±0.05, 2.74±0.07, the Hantel index was also dynamically within the normal range. According to the size of the centroids, a high degree of similarity was found between the entire population of honey bees of South-East Kazakhstan, with a degree between 858.40-887.77. The size of the centroid for the control samples was 662.82, which has too many differences from the population of honey bees in South-East Kazakhstan.