Factors of honeybee colony performances on sunflower at apiary scale

An observatory of honeybee colonies (Apis mellifera), consisting of at least 200 colonies, divided into 10 apiaries of 20 colonies, was monitored for three years on sunflower honeyflow (2015–2017). The purpose of this observatory is to understand which factors control colony performance during sunfl...

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Main Authors: Kretzschmar André, Frontero Léa
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: EDP Sciences 2017-11-01
Series:Oilseeds and fats, crops and lipids
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1051/ocl/2017054
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author Kretzschmar André
Frontero Léa
author_facet Kretzschmar André
Frontero Léa
author_sort Kretzschmar André
collection DOAJ
description An observatory of honeybee colonies (Apis mellifera), consisting of at least 200 colonies, divided into 10 apiaries of 20 colonies, was monitored for three years on sunflower honeyflow (2015–2017). The purpose of this observatory is to understand which factors control colony performance during sunflower honeyflow in south-western France. From the temporal dynamics of weight gain, statistical analysis reveals a hierarchy of factors. First, variability in apiary scale performance is an image of the effect of resource variability. But, in addition to this primordial factor, two other factors contribute very significantly to performance. On the one hand, the amount of capped brood and the number of bees at the time of the installation of the apiary: these two elements testify to the vitality of the colony. The second remarkable factor is the Varroa load, which strongly penalizes performance beyond a certain threshold. The negative effect of the Varroa load on the colony performance is minimized in case of abondant sunflower honey flow.
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spelling doaj.art-72fe7e82ca1344a9aaf0d2357d3a82002022-12-21T23:02:22ZengEDP SciencesOilseeds and fats, crops and lipids2272-69772257-66142017-11-01246D60410.1051/ocl/2017054ocl170054sFactors of honeybee colony performances on sunflower at apiary scaleKretzschmar AndréFrontero LéaAn observatory of honeybee colonies (Apis mellifera), consisting of at least 200 colonies, divided into 10 apiaries of 20 colonies, was monitored for three years on sunflower honeyflow (2015–2017). The purpose of this observatory is to understand which factors control colony performance during sunflower honeyflow in south-western France. From the temporal dynamics of weight gain, statistical analysis reveals a hierarchy of factors. First, variability in apiary scale performance is an image of the effect of resource variability. But, in addition to this primordial factor, two other factors contribute very significantly to performance. On the one hand, the amount of capped brood and the number of bees at the time of the installation of the apiary: these two elements testify to the vitality of the colony. The second remarkable factor is the Varroa load, which strongly penalizes performance beyond a certain threshold. The negative effect of the Varroa load on the colony performance is minimized in case of abondant sunflower honey flow.https://doi.org/10.1051/ocl/2017054honeybeesunflower honey flowweight gainpopulation structureVarroa
spellingShingle Kretzschmar André
Frontero Léa
Factors of honeybee colony performances on sunflower at apiary scale
Oilseeds and fats, crops and lipids
honeybee
sunflower honey flow
weight gain
population structure
Varroa
title Factors of honeybee colony performances on sunflower at apiary scale
title_full Factors of honeybee colony performances on sunflower at apiary scale
title_fullStr Factors of honeybee colony performances on sunflower at apiary scale
title_full_unstemmed Factors of honeybee colony performances on sunflower at apiary scale
title_short Factors of honeybee colony performances on sunflower at apiary scale
title_sort factors of honeybee colony performances on sunflower at apiary scale
topic honeybee
sunflower honey flow
weight gain
population structure
Varroa
url https://doi.org/10.1051/ocl/2017054
work_keys_str_mv AT kretzschmarandre factorsofhoneybeecolonyperformancesonsunfloweratapiaryscale
AT fronterolea factorsofhoneybeecolonyperformancesonsunfloweratapiaryscale