Browsing by Author "Spivak, M."

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Do measurements of worker cell size reliably distinguish Africanized from European honey bees (Apis mellifera L.)?
    (American Bee Journal, 1992) Spivak, M.; Erickson, E. Jr.
    Two experiments were conducted to determine whether the size of the cells in which bees develop affects the size of the cells they subsequently construct. The results indicate that when the size of bees has been modified through the use of foundation with larger or smaller cell bases, bees will construct natural cells of a size consistent with their genetic origin. When 22 Africanized colonies were hived on commercial European foundation, they subsequently constructed · natural cells which were not significantly different in size from those of 66 Africanized colonies hived on all natural comb. Also, eight European colonies reared on noncommercial foundation with small cell bases subsequently constructed natural cells which were significantly larger than the cells from which they emerged. Therefore, averaging the width of 10 linear cells in three diagonal rows on naturally built comb is a relatively reliable and accurate method to distinguish between Africanized and European bees in the field. However, colonies with intermediate cell sizes, which may include some feral European colonies and "hybrids" between Africanized and European colonies, may not be evaluated with certainty.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Honey production by Africanized and European honey bees in Costa Rica
    (Springer, 1989) Spivak, M.; Batra, S.; Segreda, F.; Castro, A.L.; Ramirez, W.
    Seventeen colonies of bees were used in a test of honey production in a coffee plantation in Costa Rica. The identities of the colonies were not known at the beginning of the experiment. Behavioral identifications were made in the field as to whether a colony was ’strongly Africanized’, ’strongly European’ or ’intermediate’. The distance spanned by 10 linear worker cells was also measured in the field. Morphometric analyses, conducted independenUy, identified colonies as probably Africanized or probably European. Although the ’intermediate’ category tended to produce more honey, there was no significant difference in honey production between bee types, whether sorted by behavior or morphometrics. There was no significant correlation between initial colony weight or brood area and total amount of honey produced. Appropriate uses of behavioral and morphometric identifications are discussed.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The influence of temperature on cuticular color of honeybee (Apis mellifera L) queens
    (Springer, 1993) DeGrandi-Hoffman, G.; Spivak, M.; Martin, J.
    Temperatures were monitored around emergency queen cells in queenless honeybee hives to determine the effect of temperature on queen color. Concurrently, sister queens of those reared in the queenless colony were placed in incubators set at 31.1, 32.8, or 34.4 °C for the postcapping interval. Queens from the 34.4 °C incubator were significantly lighter in color than those in the 31.1 °C in all but one trial. Queens that developed in the colony were not significantly different in color rank from those that emerged in the 34.4 °C incubators in any trial, and from the 32.8 or 31.1 °C incubators in most trials. The median color ranks of queens emerging in the colony did not differ throughout the year.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Olfactory and behavioral response thresholds to odors of diseased brood differ between hygienic and non-hygienic honey bees (Apis mellifera L.)
    (2001) Masterman, R.; Ross, R.; Mesce, K.; Spivak, M.
    Through the use of proboscis-extension reflex conditioning, we demonstrate that honey bees ( Apis mellifera L.) bred for hygienic behavior (a behavioral mechanism of disease resistance) are able to discriminate between odors of healthy and diseased brood at a lower stimulus level than bees from a non-hygienic line. Electroantennogram recordings confirmed that hygienic bees exhibit increased olfactory sensitivity to low concentrations of the odor of chalkbrood infected pupae (a fungal disease caused by Ascosphaera apis ). Three-week-old hygienic bees were able to discriminate between the brood odors significantly better than three-week old non-hygienic bees. However, the differential performance in brood odor discrimination was primarily genetically based, not a direct result of age, experience, or the temporary behavioral state of the bee. Lower stimulus thresholds for both the olfactory and behavioral responses of hygienic bees may facilitate their ability to detect, uncap and remove diseased brood rapidly from the nest. In contrast, non-hygienic bees, possessing higher response thresholds, may not be able to detect diseased brood as easily. Our results provide an example of how physiological and behavioral differences between the hygienic and non-hygienic honey bee lines, operating at the level of the individual, could produce colony-specific behavioral phenotypes.