Suche

Gruppenauswahl

Inhalt

BLOCK 1: Factor Analysis on the Gravimetric Dynamics of a Bee Colony

: inflow - weight - outflow

The actual total weight of a honeybee colony and its dynamics are affected by a number of factors.

Which substantial factors come into consideration at it?

Increase in weight due to

import of nectar
import of pollen
offspring (however, growth due to imported material)
building of honeycombs (however, growth due to imported material)

Loss in weight due to

losses of bees
decrease in honey through burning
loss of water due to the thickening of nectar into honey

Which else?

Topic	Hive weight and bee flight, a factor analysis in behavioral biology
Target group	Graduate studies
Duration	25 hours, spread over one semester or as block
Summary	The actual total weight of a honeybee colony and its dynamics are affected by a number of factors. Which substantial factors come into consideration at it and how do they interrelate? An extensive data table for August 2011 is available for the editing of a questionnaire in detail provided.

1. PDF: Definition of Tasks

2. XLS: Download Measurement Table

BLOCK 2: The Peaks of Heating in Winter

: The graph shows some of the peaks of heating for the period from January 19 2012 to February 17 2012.

A peak of heating is a significant peak value that can be reached during the heating of the winter cluster.

An overall question: What is the purpose of these peaks?

Topic	The peaks of heating in winter
Target group	Graduate studies
Duration	25 hours, spread over one semester or as block
Summary	The HOBOS-recordings from the winter 2011-1012 show that the bees constantly heat-up the temperature in the bee hive. There are questions arising on that, the listing of which in the course block shall offer suggestions. The list of questions is far from being exhausted.

Task

Please log in here with your personal user account. After the successful login, follow the link on the bottom of the login page. You are then on the site with the measurements. Select the period from January 19 2012 to February 17 2012 and the temperature sensor from honeycomb no. 4 via “Advanced Settings”. You will then receive a graph as an introduction to the task.

What is the purpose of these peaks?

This phenomenon is to be examined in this course block.

Detailed questions help to get along with it.

How often do the peaks occur?
At what time of day do the peaks occur?
At which temperature in the bee hive the peaks are produced?
What are the maximum temperatures of the peaks?
Which course of time (heating-up/cooling-off) do the peaks take?
Is this course always the same?
Is there a connection to the weight fluctuation of the bee hive?
Is there a connection to the air humidity in the beehive?
Does the weather data from the colonie’s surrounding help to comprehend the processes?
Is it possible to observe differences in the bee’s behaviour in the comparison of peak-period versus non-peak-period by means of the endoscope video recordings? (The HOBOS-team offers time-lapse recordings of the period from January 26 2012 to January 29 2012).

BLOCK 3: The Cleaning Flights

Topic	First flights after the winter (cleaning flights)
Target group	Graduate studies
Duration	25 hours, spread over one semester or as block
Summary	During the winter, the bee’s intestine has severely filled with digestive remains especially from the absorbed pollen grains in the honey that now have to exuded. The bees do this on the so-called cleaning flights. The HOBOS-recordings after the winter 2011-2012 for the first time show the exact course of the flight activity of a bee colony during the cleaning flights.

Task

After your onetime-registration at HOBOS and the login on the data site the following complex of tasks is to go about:

Examine the flight activity of the honey bees on the following days:

22.2., 25.2. and 29.2.2012, as well as 4.3., 6.3., 7.3. and 9.3.2012.

What is so special about the temporal dynamics of the flights? (Daytime? Duration? Number of peaks? How similar is that compared to all flights?)
Delineate in detail the course of the dynamics of flight activity over time.
Examine which factors outside or inside the nest have prompted the initial flights.
Examine to what extent these factors influence the number of flights (extent of peaks)?
Since it essentially involves cleaning flights, it can be read from the course of the hive weight which of the flight days must have had the strongest cleaning effects.
What is so special about a comparison of out- and in-flight activity?
Which flight days show the most severe losses of bees (bee mortality outside the hive)?
Wait at a later point in time (for example April, May) for a common collecting-flight-activity-day and compare the flight activity profiles with the profiles outlined here. What do you notice? (Overall profile? Dynamics of the out- and in-flights?)
What exciting aspects cross one’s mind else?

==> With the analysis of this data you will enter new scientific ground!

BLOCK 4: Ecology to the Lecture "General Biology for Physicians"

Topic	HOBOS-observations and calculations regarding the flow of energy in the bee colony
Target group	Physicians
Duration	150 min
Summary	In this block, you work out the following insights: What is the relationship between meteorological data (weather) from the surrounding of the HOBOS bee colony, the flight activity of the bees, the weight progression of the whole colony and the temperature within the hive? Furthermore, energetic observations are conducted.