Honeybee Ecology: A Study of Adaptation in Social Life

A synthesis treating the colony as the unit of adaptation: annual cycle, energy budget, foraging range and economics, nest architecture, swarming, and overwintering strategy.

Studied in

Apis mellifera

Sample size

monographic synthesis of honey bee colony ecology

A colony forages over an area of tens of square kilometres, typically within two to three kilometres of the nest but ranging much further when necessary. It overwinters as a cluster of long-lived winter bees that shiver to maintain warmth and consume stored honey, rather than hibernating or dying back. Colony size cycles from a few thousand in late winter to tens of thousands at midsummer.

• One species, and largely managed rather than wild colonies.
• Foraging ranges vary enormously with landscape and forage availability.
• Predates the varroa era that now dominates applied bee research.

• Honey bee

  Honey bees do not hibernate and the colony does not die — it clusters and burns honey all winter