Thermofluid Engineering of the Honey bee (Apis Mellifera) nest

Honey bees refine flower nectar into honey in summer and maintain humidity and 20°C within their nest in -40°C winters, but their interactions with quantified nest thermal properties are not studied. Our core hypothesis is that the nest enclosure is an intrinsic part of the honey bee colony, which uses nest properties to manipulate the thermofluids within, which have in turn shaped the honey bee. This has not been understood in either academia or agriculture and has led to adverse consequences in both the study and husbandry of this important pollinator. Thus, in order to understand, and design for the honey bee we need to understand its manipulation of the thermofluid environment i.e. its thermofluid engineering. Analysis of the thermofluid engineering of honey bees shows:
• The range, diversity and efficiency of their nectar foraging is linked to the thermal efficiency of their nest.
• The nest thermal properties are major factors in the temperature and humidity regulation (homeostasis) for the diverse requirements of the production of honey, the raising of new honey bees and the suppression of parasites.
• The expansion of honeybees into different climatic regions is a result of subspecies adapting by changing their body size and hence resistance to convection within the nest.
• Honey bees' natural nests within tree cavities have thermofluid properties which allow them to avoid forced clustering. In contrast, man made hives have non-optimal design characteristics such that forced clustering is frequent and unavoidable.
• Basic assumptions about heat transfer in the honey bee nest in cold climates, which have been prevalent since before World war 1, are incorrect and as a consequence honey bees in winter are refrigerated (in North America) or kept in hives which provide not much more protection than a metal box.