Drone congregation area explained

A drone congregation area is an aerial region where honeybee drones and virgin queens gather to mate.

Makeup

Drone congregation areas are typically about 100m (300feet) in diameter and 15m–30mm (49feet–100feetm) above ground. They have the shape of an upward-pointing cone, with the drone density being lower towards the top.[1] The boundaries are sharply defined: drones will not mate with queens even slightly outside the area.

Over the course of a day, approximately 12,000 drones visited one drone congregation area,[2] and the drones represented at any one congregation area can be from hundreds of different colonies.[3] However, these population numbers are highly variable depending on circumstances.

Geographical features

It is not known exactly why drone congregation areas have the locations they do, or how bees locate them.[4] [5] [6] However, there is considerable evidence that they depend on static features of the landscape. Drones will congregate in these areas even in the absence of queens, and stay in similar areas year-to-year,[7] with one drone congregation area staying in the same location for almost 200 years.[8] Additionally, if drones are brought in from outside the local area, they still quickly find the local congregation areas.

Most drone congregation areas are open spaces surrounded by a barrier; the open area provides visibility while the barrier (vegetation, hills, etc.) provides shelter from the wind. The bees also tend to fly to low elevations.[9] [10] South-facing locations are also preferred in the Northern hemisphere; this may be due to differences in solar irradiance or the bees' magnetoreception.[11]

Flyways

Drones find their way to drone congregation areas along flyways, specific shared trajectories. These generally follow features in the landscape, such as lines of trees. Drone congregation areas often occur at the intersection of flyways, though not all intersections form congregation areas. Flyways, like drone congregation areas, are stable over a period of years.

Role of pheromones

Pheromones also play a role in coalescing drones to the exact location of the queen. The International Bee Research Association's standard procedure for locating drone congregation areas involves using a queen or a (pheromone-marked) dummy queen to attract drones from the diffuse cluster of a typical drone congregation area into a visible clump. In addition to drone attraction to queens, drones are attracted to other drones[12] and virgin queens are attracted to drones.[13]

References

Notes and References

  1. Loper . Gerald M. . Wolf . Wayne W. . Taylor . Orley R. . 1992 . Honey Bee Drone Flyways and Congregation Areas: Radar Observations . Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society . 65 . 3 . 223–230 . 0022-8567 . 25085360.
  2. Koeniger . Nikolaus . Koeniger . Gudrun . Gries . Michael . Tingek . Salim . April 2005 . Drone competition at drone congregation areas in four Apis species . Apidologie . 36 . 2 . 211–221 . 10.1051/apido:2005011 . free.
  3. Baudry . E. . Solignac . M. . Garnery . L. . Gries . M. . Cornuet . J. . Koeniger . N. . 22 October 1998 . Relatedness among honeybees (Apis mellifera) of a drone congregation . Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences . 265 . 1409 . 2009–2014 . 10.1098/rspb.1998.0533. 1689479 .
  4. Koeniger . N. . Koeniger . G. . Pechhacker . H. . February 2005 . The nearer the better? Drones (Apis mellifera) prefer nearer drone congregation areas . Insectes Sociaux . 52 . 1 . 31–35 . 10.1007/s00040-004-0763-z. 22927927 .
  5. Woodgate . Joseph L. . Makinson . James C. . Rossi . Natacha . Lim . Ka S. . Reynolds . Andrew M. . Rawlings . Christopher J. . Chittka . Lars . June 2021 . Harmonic radar tracking reveals that honeybee drones navigate between multiple aerial leks . iScience . 24 . 6 . 102499 . 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102499 . 34308279 . 8257961 . free.
  6. Scheiner . Ricarda . Abramson . Charles I . Brodschneider . Robert . Crailsheim . Karl . Farina . Walter M . Fuchs . Stefan . Grünewald . Bernd . Hahshold . Sybille . Karrer . Marlene . Koeniger . Gudrun . Koeniger . Niko . Menzel . Randolf . Mujagic . Samir . Radspieler . Gerald . Schmickl . Thomas . January 2013 . Standard methods for behavioural studies of Apis mellifera . Journal of Apicultural Research . 52 . 4 . 44–45 . 10.3896/IBRA.1.52.4.04 . free . Schneider . Christof . Siegel . Adam J . Szopek . Martina . Thenius . Ronald. 85070194 . 11336/99807 . free .
  7. Loper . Gerald M. . Wolf . Wayne W. . Taylor Jr. . Orley R. . 1987 . Detection and monitoring of honeybee drone congregation areas by radar . Apidologie . 18 . 2 . 163–172 . 10.1051/apido:19870206 . free.
  8. Tribe . G. D. . 1982 . Drone mating assemblies . South African Bee Journal . 54 . 99–100.
  9. Pechhacker . H. . 1994 . Physiography influences honeybee queen's choice of mating place (Apis mellifera carnica Pollmann) . Apidologie . 25 . 2 . 239–248 . 10.1051/apido:19940210 . free.
  10. Hayashi . Shinya . Satoh . Toshiyuki . July 2021 . Landscape features causing the local congregation of honeybee males (Apis mellifera L.) . Ethology . 127 . 7 . 582–591 . 10.1111/eth.13165. 236306404 .
  11. Galindo-Cardona . Alberto . Monmany . A. Carolina . Moreno-Jackson . Rafiné . Rivera-Rivera . Carlos . Huertas-Dones . Carlos . Caicedo-Quiroga . Laura . Giray . Tugrul . October 2012 . Landscape Analysis of Drone Congregation Areas of the Honey Bee, Apis mellifera . Journal of Insect Science . 12 . 122 . 122 . 10.1673/031.012.12201 . 23451901 . 3635128 . free.
  12. Brandstaetter . Andreas S. . Bastin . Florian . Sandoz . Jean-Christophe . 15 April 2014 . Honeybee drones are attracted by groups of consexuals in a walking simulator . Journal of Experimental Biology . 217 . Pt 8 . 1278–1285 . 10.1242/jeb.094292 . 24436379 . free.
  13. Bastin . Florian . Cholé . Hanna . Lafon . Grégory . Sandoz . Jean-Christophe . 24 July 2017 . Virgin queen attraction toward males in honey bees . Scientific Reports . 7 . 1 . 6293 . 10.1038/s41598-017-06241-9 . 28740234 . 5524964 . 2045-2322 . free.

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