--- 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/ __________________________________ Yahoo! Music Unlimited Access over 1 million songs. Try it free. http://music.yahoo.com/unlimited/ -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l for rules, FAQ and other info ---