Colonial thermoregulation in stingless bees (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Meliponini)

Abstract

The life of the community favors the struggle for survival, makes it easy to search for food, increases the opportunities for defense against predators and competitors, and even can facilitate the care of establishing and building nests. But the complexity of its structure makes it appear in a few groups, distributed throughout the phylogenetic scale, among which are the insects. The activity of bees can be influenced by external factors such as temperature, humidity, light and resource availability in the environment or by internal factors such as size of population and the resources of the colony. Temperature is a determining factor for the bees to carry out their functions normally. Because they are small organisms, their surface / volume ratio is high and the heat exchange with the environment is great. Therefore, they are very dependent on temperature. Low temperatures decrease the metabolism prevents flying and other movements. High temperature causes the bees reduce outside activities and induces the ventilation behavior of the colony. This review will discuss the effect of temperature on the social and productive life of the stingless bees.