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The Effect Of Photoperiod On Regulation Of Key Components Of The Life Cycle In The Bumble Bee Bombus Impatiens L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae)., Edgar Javier Hernandez

Dissertations

This study investigates how photoperiod affects internal characteristics of colonies of the temperate bumble bee Bombus impatiens particularly; development, reproduction, and social behavior. To answer this question I used an experimental approach using commercially obtained colonies of B. impatiens kept under controlled environmental conditions, and using the exposure to photoperiod as the only variable. Eight different photoperiod treatments were evaluated over the social phase of the colony’s life cycle. Colonies exposed to photoperiods that simulate the species natural temperate photoperiod exhibited larger growth rates, higher, oviposition rates, and higher brood survival than colonies exposed to constant photoperiods. Similarly, colonies exposed …