Dataset Information

Effect of comb age on cell measurements and worker body size.

ABSTRACT: The honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) mainly use beeswax (comb) for brood rearing and food storage. Changes in the color and cell dimensions occur due to repeated food storage and brood rearing in the comb. The study aimed to determine the changes in comb cell measurements and worker body sizes in relation to comb age. For this purpose, the cell measurements of combs at age zero (wax foundation), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 years and the body size of workers reared in them were estimated. The weight of the comb, the height of the cell base, and the weight of accumulated substances in the cell significantly increased with time. Comb age had negative effects on the cell diameter, cell depth, cell volume, cell honey or pollen capacity, and newly emerged worker body weight. Significant negative correlations were observed between the accumulated substances in a cell and the cell diameter, cell depth, and cell size, while significant positive correlations were observed among the cell volume, cell diameter, cell depth, cell honey capacity, cell pollen capacity, and worker body weight. It can be concluded that the dimensions of the comb cells and worker body size changed with the age of the comb. The obtained results recommend beekeepers to replace combs aged more than 3 years with a new comb to allow large workers to gather more nectar and pollen, rear a larger brood, and store more honey.

SUBMITTER: Al-Kahtani SN

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8641860 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Effect of comb age on cell measurements and worker body size.

Al-Kahtani Saad N SN Taha El-Kazafy A EA

PloS one 20211203 12

The honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) mainly use beeswax (comb) for brood rearing and food storage. Changes in the color and cell dimensions occur due to repeated food storage and brood rearing in the comb. The study aimed to determine the changes in comb cell measurements and worker body sizes in relation to comb age. For this purpose, the cell measurements of combs at age zero (wax foundation), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 years and the body size of workers reared in them were estimated. The weight of th ...[more]

PMID: 34860846

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Project description:Body size has always been the focus of several ecological studies due to its undeniable influence on other life-history traits. The conventional representation of body size in arthropods typically relies on linear measures, such as total body length, or the length of specific body parts that can be used to represent body size. While these measures offer simplicity over more complicated alternatives (e.g., dry mass), technical problems persist for arthropods with complex body structures, as is the case for scorpions. In these animals, accurate measurements often require extensive handling, including the stretching of body parts. In light of the difficulties associated with directly measuring total length and carapace length in scorpions (two prevalent proxies for body size in the group), this study evaluates the ability of seven simple linear measurements in predicting length measures of boy size in scorpions under a phylogenetic framework. Predictive equations derived from phylogenetic mixed linear models fitted under Bayesian framework were implemented in custom R functions that can be applied for size prediction in a wide range of scorpions. Overall, accurate predictions of total length and carapace length could be achieved using any of the studied traits as single predictors. However, the most accurate predictions for total length were obtained using the length of metasomal segment V, while the best predictions for carapace length were achieved using telson length. The addition of a secondary predictor had low impact on the quality of the size predictions, indicating that increasing model complexity by incorporating additional predictors is not necessary to achieve accurate size estimates. Technical advantages and limitations associated with each linear measurement are discussed. In conclusion, this study broadens the repertoire of methods available for accurately estimating body size in scorpions, particularly in instances where body size information can only be obtained indirectly through allometric relationships.

Dataset Information

Effect of comb age on cell measurements and worker body size.

Publications

Effect of comb age on cell measurements and worker body size.

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