Impact of different constant temperatures on the survival of honey bee, Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

Abstract

Honey bees play a crucial role as beneficial insects for producing honey and pollinating crops. Apis mellifera (Linnaeus) (Hymenoptera: Apidae) is one of the most important species of honey bees globally. Insects experience various temperature stresses in their natural habitat that differ from their typical temperature range. Being an important pollinator, the current study is designed to investigate the effect of temperature stress during summer and winter on bees’ survival, recovery rate, and longevity. To check their sensitivity, the worker bees were exposed to summer (31 to 19 °C) and winter (12 to 0 °C) temperatures. Different temperatures in summer were significantly influenced the survival rate and the time required to achieve 50% mortality. The 50% mortality was observed in 13.79 days at 31 °C and gradually decreased with the decrease in temperature. The recovery rate and longevity of the bees decreased, when exposed to cold temperatures, 12 to 0 °C for 1, 2, and 3 h. Both aspects eventually decreased with the increase in exposure duration. Based on the results, it is concluded that the survival rate, recovery rate, and longevity of the bees were greatly affected by the change in temperature.