Table 3. The inputs required for the “scipy.optimize.curve_fit” Pythons’ function.

Parameter	Description
y data	Measured weight W′ per minute over a full day.
x data	Time per minute scaled for the corresponding measured weight W′.
f	Model function, introduced in Eq (1).
P 0	Initial guess for the θ parameters that are not bee facts W0 = 15000 g, Nmax = 15000 bees, l = 17 g/h m = 0.01 g/bee, a1 = 0.21 h−1, a2 = 0.41 h−1, d = 1 h−1.
Bounds	Lower and upper bounds on parameters W0 = [5000 max(W′)) g, Nmax = (0 80000] bees, l = (0 max(W′)) g/s, m = (0 0.78w] g, a1 = [0.10 4.80] h−1, a2 = [0.10 4.80] h−1, d = [0.81 3.01] h−1.
maxfev	Maximum number of evaluations allowed, for this function, 5000 iterations were used.
t0, t1	Clock times corresponding to t0 and t1, obtained previously.