Winter Bee Biology

December 2024

By Leilani Pulsifer

While the primary duty of a summer honey bee is to forage, a winter honey bee’s primary duty is to vibrate her wings to generate heat for the cluster. Not only do they differ in their hive duties, but they also differ from each other on a physiological level! 

In the summertime, a honey bee worker's lifespan is the same as a drone’s - approximately 5-6 weeks. A winter honey bee's lifespan on the other hand is much longer at 5-6 months. The difference in their lifespan is due to the differing sizes of their fat body tissue, as determined by how much pollen they are fed when they are larva. According to Arrese & Soulages (2010), "The fat body... is a dynamic tissue involved in multiple metabolic functions. One of these functions is to store and release energy in response to the energy demands of the insect." A honey bee’s fat body tissue is responsible for vital processes such as storing energy, maintaining immune function, and detoxification; its purpose is analogous with a vertebrate’s liver (Chan et al., 2011). A winter honey bee’s fat body tissue is relatively larger than her summertime sister’s allowing for a higher immunity system and an increased lifespan. 

On top of this, a honey bee's metabolic rate (that is, the honey bee’s energy expenditure) is influenced by temperature. When the ambient temperature drops below 10°C, the honey bee's metabolic rate decreases; it doesn’t require as much energy to survive as a honey bee in the summer does. In the winter, when temperatures are low, the colony requires less energy and food to survive compared to their summer relatives. Interestingly, in places with tropical or arid climates that do not experience a winter season, honey bees still experience a lengthened life span in response to the seasonal change in resources though it is not as long as an overwintering honey bee’s lifespan (Feliciano-Cardona et al., 2020).

For more information on the function of fat body tissue as well as a deeper understanding of the differences between a summer honey bee and a winter honey bee, take a look at the references below. As always, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to send us an email at info@ttp-bchpa.ca or a message on Instagram (@BC_TTP) or Facebook (@BC Tech Transfer). 

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References: 

Amdam, G. V., & Omholt, S. W. (2002). The regulatory anatomy of honeybee lifespan. Journal of theoretical biology, 216(2), 209-228. 

Arrese, E. L., & Soulages, J. L. (2010). Insect Fat Body: Energy, Metabolism, and Regulation. Annual Review of Entomology, 55(1), 207–225. doi:10.1146/annurev-ento-112408-085356 

Brejcha, M., Prušáková, D., Sábová, M., Peska, V., Černý, J., Kodrík, D., Konopová, ZB., &  Frydrychová, R. C. (2023). Seasonal changes in ultrastructure and gene expression in the fat body of worker honey bees. Journal of Insect Physiology, 146. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinsphys.2023.104504 

Chan, Q. W. T., Mutti, N. S., Foster, L. J., Kocher, S. D., Amdam, G. V., & Wolschin, F. (2011). The worker honeybee fat body proteome is extensively remodeled preceding a major life-history transition. PLoS One, 6(9), e24794. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0024794 

Feliciano-Cardona, S., Döke, M. A., Aleman, J., Agosto-Rivera, J. L., Grozinger, C. M., & Giray, T. (2020). Honey bees in the tropics show winter bee-like longevity in response to seasonal dearth and brood reduction. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 8. Doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2020.571094. 

Melathopoulos, A. (2007). The biology and management of colonies in winter [pdf]. Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists. https://capabees.com/shared/2013/02/winteringpdf.pdf. 

Winston, M. L. (1991). The biology of the honey bee. Harvard university press.