--- Keith Benson <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Joe, how are you defining performance?

> What is your measure?
>

My measure is based on the optimal forage.  Optimal
forage in honeybees dictate that all foraging
decisions are decided terms of their costs and
benefits to the colony (this has been shown in
research by Seeley in 1991, and maybe also Visscher
and Camazine)

Honeybees colonies always maximizes efficiency
expression in foraging decisions based on net coralic
gain, and colony fitness (performance) is positively
correlated with foraging efficiency.

Seeley has shown that when a colony was faced with
different sources of nectar, it consistently focused
on the source with the highest profitability
-profitability is defined as a function of nectar
sweetness, accessibility, abundance and distance from
the hive.

In the study:
"Diet selection and foraging distances of African and
European-African hybrid honey bee colonies in Costa
Rica"
http://makeashorterlink.com/?R2FE52BFB

The small cell AHB colonies were found to be more
efficient foragers consistently traveling shorter
distances for food and yet showing the similar weight
gains throughout the study. The daily mean total
foraging distance for the African colonies (1073 ± 52
m) was about 300 m less than the 1387 ± 260 m
estimated for the hybrid colonies. That the European
group had to forage further shows that they had to
work harder for the same rewards, and therefore less
efficient in performance.

"...the hybrid foragers traveled about 600 m more per
round trip, yet both colony types had similar levels
of flight activity and food storage. If all other
aspects of foraging (i.e., load sizes, flight speed,
energetic costs) were equal between the two colony
types, then hybrid colonies must have expended more
energy to maintain similar levels of food collection,
and thus may have been slightly less efficient at
foraging."

So an accurate measure of performance can be derived
from looking at the mean total foraging distance
between the two groups.  Performance and efficiency
would be directly correlated with the distance
traveled by each group necessary to obtain the same
reward.









Joe Waggle ~ Derry, PA
Small Cell Beekeeping
‘Bees Gone Wild Apiaries'
http://www.biologicalbeekeeping.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Organicbeekeepers/



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