MODELING HONEYBEE (APIS MELLIFERA) COLONIES AND POPULATION DYNAMICS TO SIMULATE COLONIES GROWTH AND FAILURE

The honeybee (Apis mellifera) is one of the important pollinators in the world. Honeybees can pollinate approximately 130 agricultural crops in the United States of American including fruit, fiber, nut, and vegetable crops. However, the rates of honeybee colony failure have been increasing significantly worldwide due to anthropologic activities, parasitic mite (Varroa destructor) and small hive beetle (Aethina tumida). Anthropogenic activities and pests have contributed to honeybee colony failure.

In order to better understand honeybee colonies and the factors that can cause a hive to collapse, a system dynamics model was developed. The model describes the colony population dynamics while taking into account the mortality rate of brood, hive bees, and forager bees as well as transition rates, food availability, and honey harvesting. The model particularly focuses on duties within a colony interaction by taking into consideration the rates of brood, hive bee, and forager bee mortality. The model result is consistent with the dynamics previously reported in the literature.

Although the model is an improvement over other dynamics previously reported in literature; the model is a work in progress. Future work will involve additional considerations and simulations to further improve the overall model including: variations in food supply, variation in queen’s egg laying rate, stimulate on-going infestation of pests such as parasitic mite (Varroa destructor) and small hive beetle (Aethina tumida), stimulate treatments to combat pest infestation, and stimulate supplemental feeding.