Published in Scientific Papers. Series D. Animal Science, Vol. LXVI, Issue 2
Written by Valentina CEBOTARI, Ion BUZU
The aim of the present work was to reveal the impact of climate changes of atmospheric precipitation on the vital activity of bee colonies. To elucidate this impact, Pearson's linear correlation coefficients were calculated between monthly atmospheric precipitation and the average annual value of each of the 6 main morpho-productive characters of bee families, such as: queen prolificacy, winter resistance, strength and colony resistance to disease, brood viability and honey production. The scientific research was carried out on the families of Apis mellifera bees from the Carpathian race at the "Apibio Regina Mierii" experimental apiary. For the research, the average monthly and annual atmospheric precipitation data for the last 11 years (2010-2020) from the nearest hydrometeorological station, located at a distance of 27 km from the apiary, were used. The results of the research demonstrated that the winter resistance of bee families has an obvious tendency to be positively influenced by atmospheric precipitation in March (rxy = 0.461 ± 0.237; tr = 1.95; P < 0.1). The prolificacy of queens is influenced negatively - by atmospheric precipitation in June (rxy = -0.582 ± 0.199; tr = 2.92; P < 0.01) and positively - by atmospheric precipitation in July (rxy = 0.579 ± 0.200; tr = 2.89; P < 0.01). The strength of bee colonies is positively influenced by atmospheric precipitation in December of the previous year (rxy = 0.571 ± 0.213; tr = 2.68; P < 0.05), as well as in March (rxy = 0.561 ± 0.206; tr = 2.72; P < 0.05) and July (rxy= 0.482 ± 0.231; tr= 2.09; P < 0.05) of the current year. The viability of the bee brood is negatively influenced by atmospheric precipitation in the months of January (rxy = -0.469 ± 0.235; tr = 2.00; P < 0.05) and May (rxy = -0.577 ± 0.201; tr = 2.87; P < 0.01) of the current year, and positive - from the atmospheric precipitation in March of the current year (rxy = 0.504 ± 0.225; tr = 2.24; P < 0.05) and October of the previous year (rxy = 0.599 ± 0.203; tr = 2.95; P < 0.01). Disease resistance of bee families is influenced negatively - by atmospheric precipitation in January of the current year (rxy = -0.497 ± 0.227; tr = 2.19; P < 0.05) and positively - by atmospheric precipitation in August of the previous year (rxy = 0.565 ± 0.215; tr = 2.63; P < 0.05), as well as the annual atmospheric precipitation of the previous year (rxy = 0.560 ± 0.217; tr = 2.58; P < 0.05). Honey production of bee families is positively influenced - by atmospheric precipitation in the months of September (rxy = 0.711 ± 0.156; tr = 4.56; P < 0.001), November (rxy = 0.599 ± 0.203; tr = 2.95; P < 0.01) and annual (rxy = 0.560 ± 0.217; tr = 2.58; P < 0.05) of the previous year, and negatively - by atmospheric precipitation in February (rxy = -0.706 ± 0.151; tr = 4.68; P < 0.001) and June (rxy = -0.511 ± 0.223; tr = 2.29; P < 0.05) of the current year.
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