Abstract
While a colony of bees may well live in the same place for many years, the onset of the temperate spring or tropical wet season is a time of swarming. It is true that such swarms facilitate the reproduction of the mother colony, but the stimuli that lead to this division are another matter entirely. The traditional explanation has it that in good times, such as spring, there is such a rapid growth in the number of offspring and such an influx of nectar and pollen into the nest that the bees are forced to find Lebensraum: there are simply too many creatures for the crevice.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1986 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hepburn, H.R. (1986). Space and Density. In: Honeybees and Wax. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-71458-0_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-71458-0_15
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-71460-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-71458-0
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive