Another bee question?

[nao57]

So...this is a good question for people in states that don't have tons of water.

If you have beehives in say the American Southwest or somewhere with less water than places near Mississippi river tributary systems, does it mean the hive would over time have more water foragers than hives in states with lots of water?

And does this follow suit with other bee resources like pollen etc?

 

[One Lucky Momma]

Good question. I’m thinking the answer is - (don’t you hate it?) it depends, and there are probably lots of variables.

just because there’s less water availabe doesn’t mean an individual bee would necessarily carry less each trip. But they might have to go farther, wearing themselves out more quickly, so the job turnover rate would be higher. Over time this condition would be the demise of more bees, but maybe not mean there would necessarily be more water girls at any given time.

I’m thinking the same would hold true for pollen, nectar, and tree sap for propolis.

at the same time, and this is where it could get tedious, if the resource in question was so limited that its collection became an arduous, more time-consuming, task, then it might well take a larger than average contingent of workers. There’s probably a formula out there for this very situation. And, to make it even more interesting, I believe fairly recent research has shown that bees of a certain job description can change their role on short notice if the hive experiences some upset, so that water porters can segue back into nurse bees if there’s a big rain around the time there’s a lot of uncapped brood that needs tending.