Warm spell could harm honey bee hives and help mosquitoes across Ohio

Unlike their wild relatives, the captive roaches crawling across Dr. Cindy Perkovich's hand have been unfazed this winter by Ohio's radical temperature changes.

"This is the first time that scientists are seeing a decline in insects," the biology professor said inside her Ashland University office, which doubles as a home for scorpions, tarantulas and even an axolotl.

The bugs that live outside have to protect and feed themselves, a task that might prove harder than ever this spring.

Perkovich knows the weather has been a threat to Earth's inhabitants for millennia, but recent temperatures throughout North Central Ohio have put the never-ending struggle back on her mind.

"The thing that's the hardest for the insects is the dramatic shifts in temperature that we're getting," Perkovich said.

Once aroused, insects need continued warmth

This week is a good example of the wild swings in temperatures in the region. It was 69 degrees on Thursday with the forecast calling for 23 overnight Saturday. On Monday it will jump back to 59, then Tuesday night drop to 27.

Since insects are ectothermic, or coldblooded, they cannot regulate their own body temperatures. The ones designed to live throughout the winter have tricks to survive the harsh temperatures: some dehydrate themselves so their cells won't be harmed by freezing water, a few huddle together in hives to keep warm, and others snuggle into burrows that are protected from the elements.

"We call it diapause. It's kind of the equivalent to hibernation," Perkovich said. “When the temperature starts getting into the 60s, they’re going to start coming out of wherever they’ve been overwintering."

Most insects transition their states from winter to spring in just a matter of hours. It's a normal and expected process that allows them to eat and explore and carry on the circle of life.

Once they're out and awake, the insects are susceptible to sudden freezes and cannot easily put themselves back into a protected state.

"Diapause takes time," Perkovich said.

Some of the first critters victimized by spring temperature fluctuation are the myriad spider species that live in the Buckeye State.

"Spiders love to come out in the early spring," Perkovich said. "Once it gets warm, they start coming out to feed and they're pretty happy. But if we get a frost all of a sudden while they're out and active, then yes, that's going to take them out. They can't get back in to where it's warm. "

Honey bees could start making workers too soon

Warm periods are very healthy for honey bees, according to Dr. Reed Johnson, a professor within the department of entomology at the Wooster campus of the Ohio State University.

"They can get out and fly around, and that's important for them because they don't defecate within the hive," Johnson said.

Those restroom breaks throughout winter are known to beekeepers as cleansing flights.

When the temperatures are more frigid, the bees congregate in the hive and shiver intensely to generate heat. They keep their hive's temperature in the 70s until signs of spring tell the queen it's time to start laying eggs to produce brood, or young bees.

Once the eggs hatch, they are fed royal jelly as larva, then are locked into a cell during their pupae stage before finally emerging as bees.

The entire development period, though, is very taxing on the colony, because workers consume large amounts of stored honey that they convert to heat by shivering their muscles.

"The big expense is once they start raising young bees, they have to keep them at like 95 degrees so that they develop properly," Johnson said. "They have to heat the hive and to do that uses a lot of honey."

A colony that starts rearing young too soon could find itself eating the last of its reserve honey with several weeks of frigid temperatures remaining until true spring.

"They can burn through their honey stores and can starve to death," Johnson said.

'These are a food source for many other organisms'

The insects that wake up hungry after a long winter will hope to find their food supplies intact.

This weekend, that scenario will likely play out millions of times across the state.

"If they feed on a plant that doesn't do well in warm, mild winters, they're not going to have a food source," Perkovich said. "So even though there's a boom in their population, they will probably collapse."

The heat could allow for a quick burst of bugs that will be overcome by any cold snap that follows. If too many of the population emerge early and die, then the ranks of the insect world could be out of balance the rest of the year.

"Some people are excited about the possibility that pest populations could start dwindling a little," Perkovich said. "From an ecological standpoint, that's probably not a good thing because these are a food source for many other organisms in our environment."

Mosquito populations could be higher this summer

Our planet's fauna must escape predators, exist at the same time as acceptable prey, and outwit competitors in consuming resources. Temperature adjusts the playing field in each of those struggles.

One of the most notorious insects to take on those challenges each year is the mosquito.

"Mosquitoes aren't going to come out until summer," Perkovich said. "But there's going to be a huge ecological niche that's opened up because things that they normally compete with are gone."

Mosquito larvae are a food source for dragonfly larvae. In fact, dragonflies are a natural predator of mosquitoes during every phase of life.

The possibility exists dragonfly populations will be reduced during warm spells this spring.

"We could possibly see more mosquitoes than we wanted to see," Perkovich said. "Especially if it's rainy and moist."

'A good chance for us to help the pollinators'

Reality is that humans don't really know what effect the warm winter will have on insect populations.

Scientist don't even know how many different species of insects live in Ohio, or the world.

"They think it could be up to 10 million different species that we don't know about," Perkovich said.

For thousands of years, they've survived fairly well on their own.

There might be a little bit, though, that Ohioans can do to help this year.

"I would suggest this is a good chance for us to help the pollinators," Perkovich said.

Leaving habitat undisturbed or planting natural grasses or wildflowers are some of the easiest and best ways to lend a hand to our insect friends.

"It would be helpful for them to have some of that stuff if their populations are going to boom," Perkovich said.

For beekeepers, providing their hives with sugar blocks and using other methods is the best way to ensure their honey bees survive until summer.

"This is a really critical time of year," Johnson said. "You're never sure when flowers are actually going to start blooming. When they do, that pollen coming in is really what gets them into raising these young bees."

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