ArticleJournal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology2021
Coping with the cold and fighting the heat: thermal homeostasis of a superorganism, the honeybee colony.
Article in Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed, 77 citations in OpenAlex.
- Fueling thermogenesis: an individual-level thermography assay reveals that sucrose ingestion promotes thermogenesis in honeybees.The Journal of experimental biology · 2026Article
- Convergent elevation of mitochondrial proton leakage improves thermogenesis in honeybees.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Diet Quality Shapes Metabolic and Immune Transcriptional Responses of Honey Bees Under Acute Heat Stress.Insects · 2026Article
- Microbial Dynamics and Functional Shift During Spontaneous Fermentation of Bee Pollen from Different Geographical Origins.Microorganisms · 2026Article
- Limits and mechanisms of honey bee colonial thermoregulation in the heat.The Journal of experimental biology · 2026Article
- Ageing in Honeybees: Telomere Length Is Driven by Climate and Resource Availability Rather Than Urbanisation or Pollution.Global change biology · 2026Article
- From Plant Metabolites to Pollinator Safety: Rethinking Selectivity of Botanical Insecticides in Bees-A Review.Biology · 2026Review
- A Wireless Sensor Platform for Beehive Monitoring.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Thermal patterns in stingless bee colonies.Die Naturwissenschaften · 2026Review
- Article
- Long-term fluorescence live imaging of honeybee embryos using light sheet fluorescence microscopy and halocarbon-based liquids.Biology open · 2025Article
- Article
- On the movement of the honeybee queen in the hive.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- The Trade-Off Between the Increased Colony Nurturing Ability and the Decreased Lifespan of Worker Bees (Insects · 2025Article
- First Report on Antifungal Activity ofJournal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Factors affecting heat resilience of drone honey bees (Apis mellifera) and their sperm.PloS one · 2025Article
- Exposure to constant artificial light alters honey bee sleep rhythms and disrupts sleep.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Tracking Varroa Parasitism Using Handheld Infrared Cameras: Is Eusocial Fever the Key?Insects · 2024Article
- Review
- Quantifying Abdominal Coloration of Worker Honey Bees.Insects · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The worldwide distribution of honeybees and their fast propagation to new areas rests on their ability to keep up optimal 'tropical conditions' in their brood nest both in the cold and in the heat. Honeybee colonies behave like 'superorganisms' where individuals work together to promote reproduction of the colony. Social cooperation has developed strongly in thermal homeostasis, which guarantees a fast and constant development of the brood. We here report on the cooperation of individuals in reaction to environmental variation to achieve thermal constancy of 34-36 °C. The measurement of body temperature together with bee density and in-hive microclimate showed that behaviours for hive heating or cooling are strongly interlaced and differ in their start values. When environmental temperature changes, heat production is adjusted both by regulation of bee density due to migration activity and by the degree of endothermy. Overheating of the brood is prevented by cooling with water droplets and increased fanning, which start already at moderate temperatures where heat production and bee density are still at an increased level. This interlaced change and onset of different thermoregulatory behaviours guarantees a graded adaptation of individual behaviour to stabilise the temperature of the brood.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.