The influence of different bee traps on undertaking behaviour of the honey bee (Apis mellifera) and development of a new trap

In this study the efficiency of bee traps used to evaluate mortality in a bee colony and their influence on undertaking behaviour was tested in twelve colonies of Apis mellifera L. Four types of bee traps (Original-Gary-Trap, a Modified-Gary-Trap, the IPSAB-Trap and the Muenster-Trap), commonly used...

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Veröffentlicht in:Apidologie 2002-05, Vol.33 (3), p.315-326
Hauptverfasser: ILLIES, Ingrid, MÜHLEN, Werner, DÜCKER, Gerti, SACHSER, Norbert
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Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:In this study the efficiency of bee traps used to evaluate mortality in a bee colony and their influence on undertaking behaviour was tested in twelve colonies of Apis mellifera L. Four types of bee traps (Original-Gary-Trap, a Modified-Gary-Trap, the IPSAB-Trap and the Muenster-Trap), commonly used in practical research, were compared to each other and to control colonies without a trap. The use of different bee traps led to incomparable results. In the Original-Gary-Trap, many stray bees were trapped and eventually died within the glass collecting jars, leading to artificially high estimates of mortality. Bees removed the dead bees from the Modified-Gary-Trap, especially during good flight conditions. Dead bees disappeared from the IPSAB-Trap because of predators and wind. Both Gary-Traps had a negative effect on undertaking behaviour; the number of behavioural components involved in removing a dead bee from the colony was large and thus, undertaking took a long time. In IPSAB-Trap, the undertaker bees showed the same number of behavioural components and took similar times to remove dead bees as the control colonies without traps. The newly developed Muenster-Trap, equipped with an easily accessible hive entrance, a collecting box for dead bees and an outlet for stray bees, gave a significantly improved performance.
ISSN:0044-8435
1297-9678
DOI:10.1051/apido:2002014