Institute of Biology, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 2, 8010, Graz, Austria.
Sci Rep. 2023 Mar 21;13(1):4655. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-31320-5.
During foraging honeybees are always endothermic to stay ready for immediate flight and to promote fast exploitation of resources. This means high energetic costs. Since energy turnover of foragers may vary in a broad range, energetic estimations under field conditions have remained uncertain. We developed an advanced model, combining the benefits of mechanistic and correlative models, which enables estimation of the energy turnover of stationary foragers from measurements of body surface temperature, ambient air temperature and global radiation. A comprehensive dataset of simultaneously measured energy turnover (ranging from 4 to 85 mW) and body surface temperature (thorax surface temperature ranging from 33.3 to 45 °C) allowed the direct verification of model accuracy. The model variants enable estimation of the energy turnover of stationary honeybee foragers with high accuracy both in shade and in sunshine, with SD of residuals = 5.7 mW and R = 0.89. Its prediction accuracy is similar throughout the main range of environmental conditions foragers usually experience, covering any combination of ambient air temperature of 14-38 °C and global radiation of 3-1000 W m.
在觅食过程中，蜜蜂总是保持体内产热状态，以便随时准备飞行并迅速利用资源。这意味着需要消耗大量的能量。由于觅食者的能量代谢率可能存在很大差异，因此在野外条件下进行能量估算一直存在不确定性。我们开发了一种先进的模型，结合了机械模型和相关模型的优点，该模型可以通过测量体表面温度、环境空气温度和总辐射来估算静止觅食者的能量代谢率。一个综合的数据集同时测量了能量代谢率（范围从 4 到 85 mW）和体表面温度（胸部表面温度范围从 33.3 到 45°C），这使得可以直接验证模型的准确性。该模型的变体可以在有阳光和阴影的情况下，以 5.7 mW 的标准偏差和 0.89 的 R 值，非常准确地估算静止蜜蜂觅食者的能量代谢率。在觅食者通常经历的主要环境条件范围内，其预测精度相似，涵盖环境空气温度为 14-38°C 和总辐射为 3-1000 W m 的任何组合。
