If you want to read the actual tree survey study, just Google "Rural
avenues as a refuge for feral honey bee population ."
I agree with the authors that they may have underestimated the number of
bee-occupied trees, since to survey 15,000 trees with a 1-minute
observation for bee flight would take 250 man hours.
I'm also surprised the the 24% proportion of trees deemed as "hollow."
 That is a far higher proportion than what I'm used to seeing.

Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
530 277 4450
ScientificBeekeeping.com


On Fri, Nov 20, 2020 at 7:59 AM Pete B <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Hi all
> In getting at the question of whether (or not) honey bees have a
> preference vis-à-vis tree types, I found this:
>
> We have examined 142 km of avenues
> and inspected more than 15 thousand
> trees in Northern Poland (Oleksa et al.,
> 2013). At least 23.6% of the trees were
> hollow and 45 trees were occupied by
> colonies of bees. The bees occurred in
> 0.3% of all trees and in 1.3% of hollow
> trees. The estimated density of the feral
> population inhabiting the avenues was
> 0.10 nest/km2 or 0.32 nests per kilometre
> of avenue. The population density can
> be underestimated because some colonies
> could be overlooked, particularly when
> their nest entrance was located high
> above the ground. The feral colonies
> could occur also in woodlands and manmade
> structures which were not inspected.
>
> Honey bees preferred large trees in
> which there is enough space for the
> nest. However, there was no strong
> preference of bees to any particular
> species of tree. Most nests occurred in
> lime trees which were also the most
> abundant. The nests were also found in
> maple, ash, oak, horse chestnut and
> alder. There were no nests in hornbeams,
> although present. This was probably
> caused by the small trunk diameter in
> this species.
>
> Comment:
> 23% hollow trees = 3500 were hollow but only 45 were occupied. Apparently
> no preference for tree species
>
> Dr. Adam Tofilski & Dr. Andrzej Oleksa (2013) There are still Bee Trees in
> Europe, Bee World, 90:1, 18-19,
>
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