Flight intensity of honeybees (Apis mellifera) and its relationship with temperature, sunshine hours, cloudiness and relative humidity

摘要

Informationonflightintensityofhoneybeesisimportantinpollinatormanagementprograms.However,theflightintensityoflocalbees(Apismellifera)ispoorlyknown.InvestigationsintothepatternofactivityofvariousracesofA.mellifera,indifferentpartsoftheworld,revealalotofvariation.Hence,thisstudywasdesignedtodeterminetheeffectofhoursofthedayandclimaticfactorsontheflightintensityoflocalhoneybees.ThestudywasconductedatMekelleAgriculturalResearchCenterandtheflightintensityofbeeswasdeterminedbycountingthenumberofbeesleavingandreturningtotheirhive.Countingwasdoneinfourcolonieswhichhadsimilarstrengths.Itwasdonefivetimesperdayat7:00a.m.,9:30a.m.,12:00a.m.,14:30p.m.and17:00p.m.Eachobservationtimewasconsideredasatreatment.ThecollecteddatawereanalyzedusingGLMrepeatedmeasurementanalysisprocedure.nbsp;nbsp;Thepeakinthenumberofbeesthatexitedandreturnedwasrecordedat9:30a.m,whilethesmallestnumberofbeesthatexitedandreturnedwasrecordedat7:00a.m.Thenumberofbeesthatexitedandreturnedhadapositiverelationshipwithairtemperatureandsunshinehours,andanegativeassociationwithrelativehumidityandcloudiness.nbsp;Henceitisadvisabletosavehoneybeesbynotapplyinginsecticidetocropsattimesofdaywhentheirflightintensityishighest.