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Subject:
From:
Peter L Borst <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 6 May 2014 07:32:11 -0400
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Regarding the study "The Population Density of Feral Colonies of Honey Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in a City in Upstate New York"

These data were collected thirty years ago, before the invasion of varroa mites. In fact, the study was initiated as a response to the discovery of a swarm aboard a ship from Brazil which arrived at the port of Oswego, NY. The bees were Africanized and were carrying varroa mites, hence the initiation of the study to see if other bees in Oswego might be infested. '

The density of colonies in Oswego was found to be 2.7 colonies per square kilometer. This is more than five times the density in NY State forests at the time. The study makes it clear that an old city like Oswego has more nesting opportunities than a forest environment. They say:

From personal observations, we know that large
numbers of honey bee colonies may be found in
northeastern U.S. cities, but our data are the first
to measure population density.

Comparable data on colony densities
(number of feral colonies per square kilometer)
have been recorded in a variety of habitats and
with various strains of A. mellifera: in four forests
in seventeenth-century Russia, 0.41 (Galton 1971);
in mixed temperate forest in New York, 0.5
(Visscher & Seeley 1982); africanized bees in small
patches of forest in Goias, Brazil, 2.1 (Kerr 1974
and personal communication); in semi-desert in
Arizona, 2.9-5.1 (Taber 1979); africanized bees at
various sites in the Panama Canal Zone, 4.7-7.1

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