BeePop: A Year in the Hive

Charting the Dynamics of a Hive for a Year

Obtain a copy of the worksheet "A Year in the Hive".
Choose a city in the United States.
Find the latitude of your city and the mean daily temperature for each month of the year.
Determine the hours of daylight for each month and enter it on the worksheet
Determine the temperature and the daylength scores for each month and enter it on the worksheet.
Multiply these two numbers together and enter it on the worksheet.
Decide if bees forage. If the mean temperature is above 54 F., then the answer is yes. If the mean temperature is below 54 F., then the answer is no.
Decide on the level of resources - nectar and pollen - for each month - high, medium, or low and use the following table. In the winter, the resources are likely to be low. At the peak of flowering season, the resources are likely to be high.
```
             Forager     Fraction
 Resource    Lifetime    Deaths - d

  Low          4           0.25
 Medium        8           0.13
  High        12           0.08
```
The forage lifetime is in days. It is based on the fact that a foraging bee's wings burn out after approximately 500 miles.
Enter the population of brood, house bees, and foragers in the hive at the beginning of the year in thousands of bees.
Run the program BEPOPITA. Enter 1 for the first prompting of MONTH, 2 for the second prompting, and so on. Enter 0 when you have completed. The table of monthly populations for brood, house bees, and foragers is displayed in the STAT lists L4, L5, and L6.
Graph the hive population dynamics for the year and think about these population changes and the adaptability of honey bees to this environment.