Adaptation of Stingless Bee at Different Temperatures There are different bees that are sensitive to temperature. Some bees are not able to function in extreme heat or extreme cold. Knowing its size and color of a bee can help us determine when and where it can be active and the amount of the temperature they can survive (Voeller). According to an article, Comparative Temperature tolerance in stingless bee species from tropical Highlands and Lowlands of Mexico and Implication for their Conservation, used three different stingless bee species from tropical highland called M. colimana and two from lowland tropics called M. beecheii and S. hellwegeri, these two species are from low subtropical and tropical rain forest. Each bee workers were placed in a different temperature to determine the amount of water …show more content…
Three experiments were conducted at a low, high and room temperature. Hundred bee workers were placed in a wooden box at a low temperature of 7° C, for every five hours, 40 individual bee workers were selected from a wooden box to measure the amount of water consumption, syrup consumption, fanning and mortality rate. Result shows that only M. colimana consumed 2.9 +/-0.25 mL of syrup with a positive correlation of 0.667, no data was given for M. beecheii and S. hellwegeri. Since M. colimana has a substantial body mass of 0.067g related to M. beecheii of 0.057g and S. hellwegeri of 0.013g, M. colimana can easily produce heat. At a cold temperature, bee workers cluster together in their hive to keep the queen warm. Inside the cluster, bee workers vibrate their wings to generate heat, bees that are along the outer shell act an insulation to keep the queen and pupae warm (Gray). Same procedure was conducted but at a high temperature of 40° C, it illustrated that M. colimana consumed 4.20 +/- 2.13 mL with a positive correlation on .626. While M. beecheii consumed 0.81 +/- 0.47 mL and S. hellwegeri