Influence of Photoperiod on the Behaviour and Brood-Rearing Activities of Honeybees in a Flight Room

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Abstract
Summary The effects of increasing and decreasing photoperiods on the honeybee Apis mellifera were studied under flight-room conditions. Brood was reared under both long-day and short-day photoperiods, indicating that there is no critical day length that has to be attained before brood rearing can begin. Honeybees reacted to increasing photoperiods by rearing more brood, and to decreasing photoperiods by rearing less brood, under both long-day and short-day photoperiods. Neither the oscillator nor the hour-glass model proposed by other authors explains the brood-rearing responses that were observed to the photoperiods used.