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Science 4 October 1996:
Vol. 274. no. 5284, pp. 88 - 90
DOI: 10.1126/science.274.5284.88
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Reports

Achievement of Thermal Stability by Varying Metabolic Heat Production in Flying Honeybees

Jon F. Harrison, * Jennifer H. Fewell, Stephen P. Roberts, H. Glenn Hall

Thermoregulation of the thorax allows endothermic insects to achieve power outputs during flight that are among the highest in the animal kingdom. Flying endothermic insects, including the honeybee Apis mellifera, are believed to thermoregulate almost exclusively by varying heat loss. Here it is shown that a rise in air temperature from 20° to 40°C causes large decreases in metabolic heat production and wing-beat frequency in honeybees during hovering, agitated, or loaded flight. Thus, variation in heat production may be the primary mechanism for achieving thermal stability in flying honeybees, and this mechanism may occur commonly in endothermic insects.

J. F. Harrison, J. H. Fewell, S. P. Roberts, Department of Zoology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-1501, USA.
H. G. Hall, Department of Entomology and Nematology, Building 970, Hull Road 0740, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-0620, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed.

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Effects of load type (pollen or nectar) and load mass on hovering metabolic rate and mechanical power output in the honey bee Apis mellifera.
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Metabolic rate and thermal stability during honeybee foraging at different reward rates.
L Moffatt (2001)
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Mite not make it home: tracheal mites reduce the safety margin for oxygen delivery of flying honeybees.
J. Harrison, S Camazine, J. Marden, S. Kirkton, A Rozo, and X Yang (2001)
J. Exp. Biol. 204, 805-814
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Mechanisms of thermal stability during flight in the honeybee apis mellifera.
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