Overwintering in Honey Bees: Implications for Apiculture

Abstract

Because terrestrial ectotherms cannot tolerate intracellular ice, most treatments in the literature that deal with their overwinter survival in habitats where they encounter subzero winter temperatures describe physiological and biochemical adaptations for cold hardiness (Duman, 1982; Storey, 1987;Zachariassen, 1985). These include freeze tolerance and freeze avoidance, usually by mechanisms employing cryoprotectants (glycoprotein or polyols in the hemolymph), supercooling by removal of ice-nucleating agents, or dehydration (Storey, 1987; Sømme, 1982). All insects occupying regions where winters are long and often severe, overwinter in a diapause phase of development such as a pupa, egg, or resistant larva, as an inactive adult with antifreeze protection, as a resistant egg stage tolerant of desiccation and low temperature, or as freeze-tolerant individuals with cryoprotective agents. A few insect species are successful at migrating long distances to avoid the cold and lack of food.