Abstract
Sociometry is the description and analysis of the physical and numerical attributes of social insect colonies over their lifetimes. Sociometric data, such as worker number and nest size are essential for understanding how colonies develop but are rarely collected. Even Apis mellifera, the most intensively studied social insect, has never received a broad-scale sociometric study. To help fill this gap, we monitored four honey bee colonies living in large observation hives from when they began as swarms (July 2012), to when they died (January 2014). We tracked multiple colony parameters, including worker and drone populations, comb area and use, swarming rate, and colony death. Each colony’s life history is described through its founding, ergonomic, and reproductive stages.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allen MD (1958) Drone brood in honey bee colonies. J Econ Entomol 51:46–48. doi:10.1093/jee/51.1.46
Allen MD (1965) The production of queen cups and queen cells in relation to the general development of honeybee colonies, and its connection with swarming and supersedure. J Apic Res 4:121–141. doi:10.1080/00218839.1965.11100115
Avitabile A (1978) Brood rearing in honeybee colonies from late autumn to early spring. J Apic Res 17:69–73. doi:10.1080/00218839.1978.11099905
Berg S, Koeniger N, Koeniger G, Fuchs S (1997) Body size and reproductive success of drones (Apis mellifera L). Apidologie 28:449–460. doi:10.1051/apido:19970611
Bodenheimer FS, Ben-Nerya A (1937) One year studies on the biology of the honey-bee in Palestine. Ann Appl Biol 24:385–403. doi:10.1111/j.1744-7348.1937.tb05041.x
Boes KE (2010) Honeybee colony drone production and maintenance in accordance with environmental factors: an interplay of queen and worker decisions. Insectes Soc 57:1–9. doi:10.1007/s00040-009-0046-9
Farrar CL (1937) The influence of colony populations on honey production. J Agric Res 54:945–954
Fell RD, Ambrose JT, Burgett DM et al (1977) Seasonal cycle of swarming in honeybees. J Apic Res 16:170–173. doi:10.1080/00218839.1977.11099883
Free JB (1957) The food of adult drone honeybees (Apis mellifera). Brit J Anim Behav 1:14–18. doi:10.1016/S0950-5601(57)80038-0
Free JB, Racey PA (1968) The effect of the size of honeybee colonies on food consumption, brood rearing and the longevity of the bees during winter. Entomol Exp Appl 11:241–249. doi:10.1007/BF00305232
Grozinger CM, Richards J, Mattila HR (2013) From molecules to societies: mechanisms regulating swarming behavior in honey bees (Apis spp.). Apidologie 45:327–346. doi:10.1007/s13592-013-0253-2
Lee PC, Winston ML (1985) The effect of swarm size and date of issue on comb construction in newly founded colonies of honeybees (Apis mellifera L.). Can J Zool 63:524–527. doi:10.1139/z85-077
Lee PC, Winston ML (1987) Effects of reproductive timing and colony size on the survival, offspring colony size and drone production in the honey bee (Apis mellifera). Ecol Entomol 12:187–195. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2311.1987.tb00997.x
Loftus JC, Smith ML, Seeley TD (2016) How honey bee colonies survive in the wild: testing the importance of small nests and frequent swarming. PLoS ONE 11:e0150362. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0150362
Macevicz S, Oster G (1976) Modeling social insect populations II: optimal reproductive strategies in annual eusocial insect colonies. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 1:265–282. doi:10.1007/BF00300068
Martin H, Lindauer M (1966) Sinnesphysiologische Leistungen beim Wabenbau der Honigbiene. Z Vergl Physiol 53:372–404. doi:10.1007/BF00298103
McNally LC, Schneider SS (1992) Seasonal cycles of growth, development and movement of the African honey bee, Apis mellifera scutellata, in Africa. Insectes Soc 39:167–179. doi:10.1007/BF01249292
Mitchell C (1970) Weights of workers and drones. Am Bee J 110:468–469
Murdock TC, Tschinkel WR (2015) The life history and seasonal cycle of the ant, Pheidole morrisi Forel, as revealed by wax casting. Insectes Soc 62:265–280. doi:10.1007/s00040-015-0403-9
Nolan WJ (1925) The brood-rearing cycle of the honeybee. United States Dep Agric Dep Bull 1349:1–56
Oster GF, Wilson EO (1978) Caste and Ecology in the Social Insects. Princeton University Press, Princeton
Otis GW (1982) Weights of worker honeybees in swarms. J Apic Res 21:88–92. doi:10.1080/00218839.1982.11100520
Pratt SC (1999) Optimal timing of comb construction by honeybee (Apis mellifera) colonies: a dynamic programming model and experimental tests. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 46:30–42. doi:10.1007/s002650050589
Rangel J, Seeley TD (2012) Colony fissioning in honey bees: size and significance of the swarm fraction. Insectes Soc 59:453–462. doi:10.1007/s00040-012-0239-5
Schluns H, Schluns EA, van Praagh J, Moritz RFA (2003) Sperm numbers in drone honeybees (Apis mellifera) depend on body size. Apidologie 34:577–584. doi:10.1051/apido
Seeley TD (1978) Life history strategy of the honey bee, Apis mellifera. Oecologia 32:109–118. doi:10.1007/BF00344695
Seeley TD (1995) The wisdom of the hive. Harvard University Press, Cambridge
Seeley TD (2002) The effect of drone comb on a honey bee colony’s production of honey. Apidologie 33:75–86. doi:10.1051/apido
Seeley, TD (2007) Honey bees of the Arnot Forest: a population of feral colonies persisting with Varroa destructor in the northeastern United States. Apidologie 38(1):19–29. doi:10.1051/apido:2006055
Seeley TD, Mikheyev AS (2003) Reproductive decisions by honey bee colonies: tuning investment in male production in relation to success in energy acquisition. Insectes Soc 50:134–138. doi:10.1007/s00040-003-0638-8
Seeley TD, Morse RA (1976) The nest of the honey bee (Apis mellifera L.). Insectes Soc 23:495–512. doi:10.1007/BF02223477
Seeley TD, Tautz J (2001) Worker piping in honey bee swarms and its role in preparing for liftoff. J Comp Physiol A 187:667–676. doi:10.1007/s00359-001-0243-0
Seeley TD, Visscher P (1985) Survival of honeybees in cold climates: the critical timing of colony growth and reproduction. Ecol Entomol 10:81–88. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2311.1985.tb00537.x
Smith ML, Ostwald MM, Loftus JC, Seeley TD (2014) A critical number of workers in a honeybee colony triggers investment in reproduction. Naturwissenschaften 101:783–790. doi:10.1007/s00114-014-1215-x
Smith ML, Ostwald MM, Seeley TD (2015) Adaptive tuning of an extended phenotype: honeybees seasonally shift their honey storage to optimize male production. Anim Behav 103:29–33. doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.01.035
Southwick EE (1983) The honey bee cluster as a homeothermic superorganism. Comp Biochem Physiol Part A Physiol 75:641–645. doi:10.1016/0300-9629(83)90434-6
Starr CK (2006) Steps toward a general theory of the colony cycle in social insects. In: Kipyatkov VE (ed) Life cycles Soc insects Behav Ecol Evol St. Petersburg University Press, Petersburg, pp 1–20
Taber S, Owens CD (1970) Colony founding and initial nest design of honey bees, Apis mellifera L. Anim Behav 18:625–632. doi:10.1016/0003-3472(70)90005-9
Tschinkel WR (1991) Insect sociometry, a field in search of data. Insectes Soc 38:77–82. doi:10.1007/BF01242715
Tschinkel WR (1993) Sociometry and sociogenesis of colonies of the fire ant Solenopsis invicta during one annual cycle. Ecol Soc Am 63:425–457. doi:10.2307/2937154
Tschinkel WR (1998) Sociometry and sociogenesis of colonies of the harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex badius: worker characteristics in relation to colony size and season. Insectes Soc 45:385–410. doi:10.1007/s000400050097
Wilson EO (1985) The sociogenesis of insect colonies. Science 228:1489–1495
Winston ML (1979) Intra-colony demography and reproductive rate of the Africanized honeybee in South America. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 4:279–292. doi:10.1007/BF00297648
Winston ML (1980a) Seasonal patterns of brood rearing and worker longevity in colonies of the Africanized honey bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in South America. J Kansas Entomol Soc 53:157–165
Winston ML (1980b) Swarming, afterswarming, and reproductive rate of unmanaged honeybee colonies (Apis mellifera). Insectes Soc 27:391–398. doi:10.1007/BF02223731
Winston ML, Dropkin JA, Taylor OR (1981) Demography and life-history characteristics of two honey bee races (Apis mellifera). Oecologia 48:407–413. doi:10.1007/BF00346502
Acknowledgments
We thank James Mendelssohn and Hailey Scofield for comments on the manuscript, and Ruth Ann Cecilia Smith for help with data management. Based on work supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (DGE-1144153, to MLS) and by a Hatch Grant (NYC-191400, to TDS) from the Cornell University Agriculture Experiment Station.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Smith, M.L., Ostwald, M.M. & Seeley, T.D. Honey bee sociometry: tracking honey bee colonies and their nest contents from colony founding until death. Insect. Soc. 63, 553–563 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-016-0499-6
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-016-0499-6