Supplemental Material for: Comparison of drone ecology and behavior between Apis mellifera mellifera and the hybrid Buckfast in southwestern Sweden.

Most research on the biology of the western honey bee (Apis mellifera) focuses on the worker bees, but knowledge about drones is lacking despite their important role in mating with a virgin queen. Available information about their ecology and behavior are mainly based on direct observations in need of intensive experience and knowledge about honey bees. Only two recent studies conducted in France and Argentina have monitored drones continuously, but on the scale of a single observation hive or during a short time period only. Therefore, studies that have continuously monitored drone flight activity during the whole mating season are still lacking. Further, we are not aware of any studies that have compared the ecology and behavior of drones between different subspecies of Apis mellifera. Besides the aim of analysing the ecology and behavior of drones in spring and summer in Sweden, where the climate poses challenging conditions for honey bees, the objective of this project was to compare the native, but threatened, subspecies Apis mellifera mellifera (Mel) with the hybrid ’Buckfast’ (Apis mellifera x, Buck). In Sweden, the latter is most commonly used in beekeeping today. Activity data at the entrance of the hives was collected with the use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology at two different apiaries with 8 colonies each. RFID technology enables the continuous monitoring of bees tagged with a microchip on their thorax. Hereby, only newborn drones with a maximum age of 3 days were tagged. Further, drones’ activity and behavior at the entrance of the hive was studied from video recordings. Weather parameters were measured by weather stations installed within the apiaries, enabling a direct analysis of the activity in relation to weather conditions (temperature, wind speed, rain, humidity).

当前针对西方蜜蜂（Apis mellifera）生物学的研究大多聚焦于工蜂（worker bees），但尽管雄蜂（drones）在与处女蜂王（virgin queen）交尾中发挥着关键作用，学界对其相关认知仍存在缺口。现有关于雄蜂生态学（ecology）与行为（behavior）的资料，主要基于需依托深厚蜜蜂学专业经验与知识储备的直接观测所得。近年来仅法国与阿根廷开展过两项针对雄蜂的连续监测研究，但二者均仅依托单个观测蜂箱开展，或仅在短时段内进行监测。因此，针对整个交尾季雄蜂飞行活动的连续监测研究仍付阙如。此外，目前尚未有研究对西方蜜蜂不同亚种间雄蜂的生态学与行为展开对比分析。本项目一方面旨在分析瑞典春季与夏季的雄蜂生态学特征及行为模式——瑞典的气候条件对西方蜜蜂的生存颇具挑战性；另一方面则旨在对比本土且面临生存威胁的西方蜜蜂欧洲黑蜂亚种（Apis mellifera mellifera，缩写Mel）与当前瑞典养蜂业主流使用的杂交巴克法斯特蜂（Apis mellifera × Buckfast，缩写Buck）的相关特征，目前巴克法斯特蜂已是瑞典养蜂业的主流蜂种。本研究在两个各设有8个蜂群（colonies）的养蜂场（apiaries）中，借助射频识别（Radio Frequency Identification, RFID）技术采集蜂箱入口处的蜜蜂活动数据。射频识别技术可实现对胸部植入微型芯片（microchip）的蜜蜂的连续监测，本次研究仅对日龄不超过3天的新生雄蜂进行芯片标记。此外，本研究还通过视频录像分析雄蜂在蜂箱入口处的活动与行为模式。养蜂场内布设的气象站（weather stations）可采集各项气象参数，从而能够直接分析雄蜂活动与气象条件（气温、风速、降雨量、湿度）之间的关联。