Honeybee waggle dance error: adaption or constraint? Unravelling the complex dance language of honeybees

2014 ◽  
Vol 94 ◽  
pp. 19-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaitlyn Preece ◽  
Madeleine Beekman
Keyword(s):  
Waggle Dance ◽  
Dance Language

scholarly journals Honeybees forage more successfully without the “dance language” in challenging environments

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. eaat0450 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. I’Anson Price ◽  
N. Dulex ◽  
N. Vial ◽  
C. Vincent ◽  
C. Grüter
Keyword(s):  
Information Use ◽  
Waggle Dance ◽  
Foraging Success ◽  
Agent Based Model ◽  
Dance Language ◽  
Agent Based ◽  
Food Site ◽  
Temperate Environment ◽  
Share Information ◽  
Over Time

Honeybees use the waggle dance to share information about food-site locations with nestmates. However, the importance of this behavior in colony foraging success remains unclear. We tested whether spatial dance information affects colony foraging success in a human-modified temperate environment by comparing colonies with oriented and disoriented dances. Notably, colonies with disoriented dances had greater foraging success. Over time, bees exposed to disoriented dances showed reduced interest in dancing nestmates. This may explain why disoriented colonies had a higher foraging rate than oriented colonies, as bees did not waste time waiting for information. This change in information-use strategy suggests bees learn about the value of dance information. An agent-based model confirmed that, under challenging conditions, waiting for dance information reduces colony foraging success compared to foraging without social information. Our results raise the possibility that humans have created environments to which the waggle dance language is not well adapted.

scholarly journals Network simulations of interneuron circuits in the honeybee primary auditory center

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ajayrama Kumaraswamy ◽  
Aynur Maksutov ◽  
Kazuki Kai ◽  
Hiroyuki Ai ◽  
Hidetoshi Ikeno ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Auditory System ◽  
Waggle Dance ◽  
Inhibitory Neurons ◽  
Dance Language ◽  
Vibration Signals ◽  
Communication Signals ◽  
Inhibitory Network ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Network Simulations

ABSTRACTProcessing of airborne vibration signals in the auditory system is essential for honeybee communication through the waggle dance language. Properties of neurons in the honeybee primary auditory center suggest a circuitry of excitatory and inhibitory neurons encoding these communication signals. To test this assumption, we simulated this network and analyzed the predicted responses for different types of inputs. In particular, we investigated the effect of specific inhibitory connections in the network. The results indicate that the experimentally observed responses of certain interneuron types are compatible with an inhibitory network of vibration processing in the primary auditory center of the honeybee.

scholarly journals Neuroethology of the Waggle Dance: How Followers Interact with the Waggle Dancer and Detect Spatial Information

Insects ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroyuki Ai ◽  
Ryuichi Okada ◽  
Midori Sakura ◽  
Thomas Wachtler ◽  
Hidetoshi Ikeno
Keyword(s):  
Animal Ecology ◽  
Food Source ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Waggle Dance ◽  
Neural Processing ◽  
Dance Language ◽  
Current State ◽  
Biological Studies ◽  
Foraging Experience ◽  
Karl Von Frisch

Since the honeybee possesses eusociality, advanced learning, memory ability, and information sharing through the use of various pheromones and sophisticated symbol communication (i.e., the “waggle dance”), this remarkable social animal has been one of the model symbolic animals for biological studies, animal ecology, ethology, and neuroethology. Karl von Frisch discovered the meanings of the waggle dance and called the communication a “dance language.” Subsequent to this discovery, it has been extensively studied how effectively recruits translate the code in the dance to reach the advertised destination and how the waggle dance information conflicts with the information based on their own foraging experience. The dance followers, mostly foragers, detect and interact with the waggle dancer, and are finally recruited to the food source. In this review, we summarize the current state of knowledge on the neural processing underlying this fascinating behavior.

scholarly journals Adaptations during Maturation in an Identified Honeybee Interneuron Responsive to Waggle Dance Vibration Signals

eNeuro ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. ENEURO.0454-18.2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ajayrama Kumaraswamy ◽  
Hiroyuki Ai ◽  
Kazuki Kai ◽  
Hidetoshi Ikeno ◽  
Thomas Wachtler
Keyword(s):  
Waggle Dance ◽  
Vibration Signals

scholarly journals Use of waggle dance information in honey bees is linked to gene expression in the antennae, but not in the brain

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anissa Kennedy ◽  
Tianfei Peng ◽  
Simone M. Glaser ◽  
Melissa Linn ◽  
Susanne Foitzik ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Information Integration ◽  
Private Information ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Social Information ◽  
Waggle Dance ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Intrinsic Factors ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
Prior Experiences

AbstractCommunication is essential for social animals, but deciding how to utilize information provided by conspecifics is a complex process that depends on environmental and intrinsic factors. Honey bees use a unique form of communication, the waggle dance, to inform nestmates about the location of food sources. However, as in many other animals, experienced individuals often ignore this social information and prefer to rely on prior experiences, i.e. private information. The neurosensory factors that drive the decision to use social information are not yet understood. Here we test whether the decision to use social dance information or private information is linked to gene expression differences in different parts of the nervous system. We trained bees to collect food from sugar water feeders and observed whether they utilize social or private information when exposed to dances for a new food source. We performed transcriptome analysis of four brain parts critical for cognition: the subesophageal ganglion, the central brain, the mushroom bodies, and the antennal lobes but, unexpectedly, detected no differences between social or private information users. In contrast, we found 413 differentially expressed genes in the antennae, suggesting that variation in sensory perception mediate the decision to use social information. Social information users were characterized by the upregulation of dopamine and serotonin genes while private information users upregualted several genes coding for odor perception. These results highlight that decision making in honey bees might also depend on peripheral processes of perception rather than higher-order brain centers of information integration.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document