Space Solar Power Review Vol 2 Num 3 1981

nests of the sham and treated colonies are shown in Fig. 5. In both colonies there was a diurnal temperature cycle in which minimum and maximum nest temperatures occurred at approximately 0300 and 1700 h, respectively. Minimum and maximum humidities in the laboratory and inside the sham chamber were 50%^60% and 529^ 62% RH, respectively. Temperatures and humidities within both colonies were within the normal range, indicating no effects caused by the microwave treatment. The total number of comb cells available in the four combs of each colony was 3895 and 3855 for the microwave-treated and sham colonies, respectively. At the beginning of the study both colonies contained essentially equal numbers of cells of eggs, larvae, capped brood, honey or nectar, pollen, and empty cells (Figs. 6-11, respectively). At the end of the first week, the microwave colony contained fewer eggs, more larvae, and essentially the same number of capped cells, indicating that the queen in the microwave colony initiated oviposition earlier than the sham chamber queen after the empty comb was placed in each colony on the first day of exposure. Thereafter, through the end of the third week, the data indicate normal brood development in both colonies. By the end of the fourth week, the microwave- treated colony contained fewer eggs than the sham but more larvae and capped brood. This indicates that eggs laid by the queen in the sham colony were being cannibalized, a common occurrence during the late summer when brood rearing normally is reduced. The variation between the brood rearing activities of the two colonies was within the normal range of variation experienced in nature. Honey and nectar in the combs diminished during the first week of the study and

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