Influence of temerature on body weight and water content in honey bees ( Apis mellifera L.) under an anesthesia with carbon dioxide

In bees Apis mellifera L., similar to other insects, the respiration depends directly on temperature, being suppressed as the temperature approaches the upper limit of viability. High hypoxia tolerance is known to be a characteristic feature of honey bees. In winter, bees are influenced by the high СО 2 level when the law temperatures stimulate their aggregation in a limited zone of the nest space. In adaptation of bees to a wide range of outer temperature, the effect of hypo- and hyperthermia under hypoxia are still not studied. Because the high СО 2 concentrations act as anesthetics, we examined in dynamics a physiological effect of temperature (0 °С, 25 °С, and 35 °С), particularly body weight and water losses, when the systems regulating metabolism and respiration activity in insects are out of active use. The worker bees of spring and summer generations from the same families were investigated. СО 2 was shown to influence the body weight losses, due to the water losses mainly. If the temperature changes from the parameter registered inside a hive to that causing a cold numb, the weigh of and the water content in bees’ head, thorax and abdomen decreased slowly. Because of repressed respiration under cold numb and anesthesia, the transpiration occurs through an integument.