Study

Honeybee colony thermoregulation — regulatory mechanisms and contribution of individuals

Stabentheiner, Anton; Kovac, Helmut; Brodschneider, Robert

PLoS ONE, 2010

Peer-reviewedphysiological studycaptive

What they did

Colonies were imaged with infrared thermography while ambient temperature was varied, measuring the body temperature of individual bees and relating individual heat production to the temperature maintained in the brood nest.

Studied in: Apis mellifera
Sample size: colonies filmed with infrared thermography across ambient temperatures

What they found

The brood nest is held near 35 °C across a wide range of outside temperatures. Individual bees heat by decoupling their flight muscles and shivering, and cool the nest by fanning and by spreading evaporating water; participation is highly uneven between individuals.

What it means

The authors' reading, and ours. Where they differ, that difference is the point.

How the authors put it

Colony temperature is regulated by the summed, unevenly distributed effort of individuals responding to local conditions.

How NatureHQ reads it

A honey bee colony is a warm-blooded object made of cold-blooded animals, which is the cleanest example NatureHQ holds of a property existing at the colony level and nowhere else. No single bee is thermoregulating; the nest is. The 35 °C figure matters practically too — brood raised even a degree or two off it develops differently, which is why winter clustering and summer fanning are not comfort behaviours but requirements.