Abstract
Temperature adjustment was used to buffer against changes in external environmental temperature by a heating device. Two groups of honey bee colonies Apis mellifera anatoliaca were used: one as experimental (20) and the other control (10), which were equalized in terms of the number of brood frames, frames with bees, food, hive materials, and health treatments. The experimental colonies were heated during the cold season, and the temperature and humidity inside the hive were recorded. The number of frames of brood, frames of bees, and Varroa destructor mite numbers were also determined for all hives. Results suggest that the number of brood frames and frames with bees increased significantly in the hives with the heating treatment. However, varroa mite numbers also increased significantly in the heated colonies in comparison to the control colonies. Colony losses were significantly less (15%) in heated colonies compared to a 40% loss in control colonies. This is the first account demonstrating that using simple heating devices can support weak colonies during the cold season in general, and colony losses can be reduced significantly from this heating treatment in cold seasons.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Türkiye scholarship provided to Dr. Faten Ben Abdelkader. We thank to Can Yigitler and Fatih Acar for helping electronic parts and Technician Esref Tiraki for bee hives. We also are grateful to anonymous reviewers and Dr. Christopher Mayack for editing of this manuscript for English language.
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This study was supported by Bursa Uludag University Research Unit by providing financial support (BUU-AGAM BAP Project No. 2016/2).
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IÇ designed the experiments, managed the colonies, and analyzed the data and wrote the paper, BK designed and maintained the heating system and helped to the analysis, SÇ helped to manage colonies, collected data, FA collected some data, analyzed, applied statistics and editing.
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Çakmak, I., Kul, B., Ben Abdelkader, F. et al. Effects of temperature adjustment with a heating device in weak honey bee colonies in cold seasons. Int J Biometeorol 67, 1765–1774 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-023-02537-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-023-02537-w