Relation of honey production in Apis mellifera colonies to the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index and other indicators

The objective of this study was to investigate the possible correlation between honey production in Apis mellifera hives and vegetation health and greenness as well as other measurements of the surrounding environment, such as precipitation and land use. Specific focus was placed upon the use of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), a satellite-imagery derived index of vegetation strength, as an indicator of vegetative nectar supply to hives.;The NASA program HoneyBeeNet furnished the dependent variable, mass records of hives in the mid-Atlantic region for four years (2008 to 2011). Using a Geographic Information System (GIS) software package, precipitation data were selected, land use statistics were derived, and NDVI values were extracted from satellite imagery in an area surrounding each hive location. Additional metrics were derived from this information using a simple statistics package.;Patterns in NDVI values at the start of the honey production season were observed, most notably an NDVI threshold below which hive mass gain will not outpace hive mass loss. However, the results indicated that NDVI and other expected indicators show little linear or multivariate correlation with honey production mass in Apis mellifera hives within the study at any level of appreciable statistical significance.