Honeybee waggle dance: recruitment success depends on the dance floor

1996 ◽  
Vol 199 (6) ◽  
pp. 1375-1381 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Tautz
Keyword(s):  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Information Transfer ◽  
Food Source ◽  
Waggle Dance ◽  
Considerable Influence ◽  
Dance Floor ◽  
Recruitment Success

The waggle dance of the honeybee Apis mellifera, used to recruit nestmates to a food source, takes place on the surface of the combs in the dark hive. The mechanism of information transfer between dancer and follower bees is not entirely understood. The results presented here reveal a novel factor that must be brought into any consideration of this mechanism, namely that the nature of the floor on which the bees dance has a considerable influence on the recruitment of nestmates to a food source. Dancers on combs with open empty cells recruit three times as many nestmates to a food source as dancers on capped brood cells.

scholarly journals Follower Position Does Not Affect Waggle Dance Information Transfer

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Parry M. Kietzman ◽  
P. Kirk Visscher
Keyword(s):  
Honey Bee ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Information Transfer ◽  
Food Source ◽  
Waggle Dance

It is known that the honey bee waggle dance communicates the distance and direction of some item of interest, most commonly a food source, to nestmates. Previous work suggests that, in order to successfully acquire the information contained in a dance, other honey bees must follow the dancer from behind. We revisit this topic using updated methodology, including a greater distance from the hive to the feeder, which produced longer, more easily-read dances. Our results are not congruent with those of earlier work, and we did not conclude that honey bees must follow a dancer from behind in order to obtain the dance information. Rather, it is more likely that a follower can successfully acquire a dance’s information regardless of where she may be located about a dancer.

Trophallaxis in honeybees, Apis mellifera (L.), as related to their past experience at the food source

2003 ◽  
Vol 66 (4) ◽  
pp. 791-795 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro J Wainselboim ◽  
Walter M Farina
Keyword(s):  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Food Source ◽  
Past Experience

scholarly journals Honeybee navigation: following routes using polarized-light cues

2011 ◽  
Vol 366 (1565) ◽  
pp. 703-708 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Kraft ◽  
C. Evangelista ◽  
M. Dacke ◽  
T. Labhart ◽  
M. V. Srinivasan
Keyword(s):  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Food Source ◽  
Polarized Light ◽  
Light Illumination ◽  
Directional Information ◽  
First Time ◽  
Behavioural Evidence ◽  
Do So

While it is generally accepted that honeybees ( Apis mellifera ) are capable of using the pattern of polarized light in the sky to navigate to a food source, there is little or no direct behavioural evidence that they actually do so. We have examined whether bees can be trained to find their way through a maze composed of four interconnected tunnels, by using directional information provided by polarized light illumination from the ceilings of the tunnels. The results show that bees can learn this task, thus demonstrating directly, and for the first time, that bees are indeed capable of using the polarized-light information in the sky as a compass to steer their way to a food source.

Importance of wing movements for information transfer during honey bee waggle dance

Ethology ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 123 (12) ◽  
pp. 974-980 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylwia Łopuch ◽  
Adam Tofilski
Keyword(s):  
Honey Bee ◽  
Information Transfer ◽  
Waggle Dance

scholarly journals Parallel processing of olfactory and mechanosensory information in the honeybee antennal lobe.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ettore Tiraboschi ◽  
Luana Leonardelli ◽  
Gianluca Segata ◽  
Elisa Rigosi ◽  
Albrecht Haase
Keyword(s):  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Parallel Processing ◽  
Antennal Lobe ◽  
Waggle Dance ◽  
Mechanical Stimuli ◽  
Activation Pattern ◽  
Antennal Lobes ◽  
Dance Communication ◽  
Combinatorial Code

We report that airflow produces a complex activation pattern in the antennal lobes of the honeybee Apis mellifera. Glomerular response maps provide a stereotypical code for the intensity and the dynamics of mechanical stimuli that is superimposed on the olfactory code. We show responses to modulated stimuli suggesting that this combinatorial code could provide information about the intensity, direction, and dynamics of the airflow during flight and waggle dance communication.

scholarly journals Multiple nest entrances alter foraging and information transfer in ants

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 191330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marine Lehue ◽  
Bertrand Collignon ◽  
Claire Detrain
Keyword(s):  
Information Transfer ◽  
Food Source ◽  
Lower Amount ◽  
Foraging Efficiency ◽  
Foraging Patterns ◽  
Social Exchanges ◽  
Spatially Extended ◽  
Ecological Success ◽  
Transfer Of Information

The ecological success of ants relies on their ability to discover and collectively exploit available resources. In this process, the nest entrances are key locations at which foragers transfer food and information about the surrounding environment. We assume that the number of nest entrances regulates social exchanges between foragers and inner-nest workers, and hence influences the foraging efficiency of the whole colony. Here, we compared the foraging responses of Myrmica rubra colonies settled in either one-entrance or two-entrance nests. The total outflows of workers exploiting a sucrose food source were similar regardless of the number of nest entrances. However, in the two-entrance nests, the launching of recruitment was delayed, a pheromone trail was less likely to emerge between the nest and the food source, and recruits were less likely to reach the food target. As a result, an additional entrance through which information could transit decreased the efficiency of social foraging and ultimately led to a lower amount of retrieved food. Our study confirms the key-role of nest entrances in the transfer of information from foragers to potential recruits. The influence of the number of entrances on the emergence of a collective trail also highlights the spatially extended impact of the nest architecture that can shape foraging patterns outside the nest.

Foodborne bacteria in raw drone brood of Apis mellifera – a preliminary survey

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
P. Herren ◽  
L. Fieseler ◽  
D. Ambuehl ◽  
J. Grunder
Keyword(s):  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Varroa Destructor ◽  
Food Source ◽  
Viable Cell ◽  
Preliminary Survey ◽  
Edible Insects ◽  
Foodborne Bacteria ◽  
Cell Counts ◽  
Drone Brood ◽  
Coagulase Positive Staphylococci

Drone brood of Apis mellifera is often removed from the beehive to control the honeybee parasite Varroa destructor. Instead of discarding the drone brood, it could rather be used as a new food source for human nutrition. However, studies on microbiological hazards caused by edible insects are rare, especially in the case of drone brood. In this survey, microbial total viable cell counts and the most common foodborne bacteria were assessed in raw drone brood. Samples were taken from 24 beehives from four apiaries in Switzerland. The drone brood combs were harvested either by the beekeepers with their personal equipment or by the researchers with sterile equipment. No difference in the total viable cell counts was found between these two methods. All samples were free of Salmonella. Viable counts of Bacillus cereus, coagulase-positive staphylococci, Enterobacteriaceae and Escherichia coli were all below the detection limits of the recommended ISO reference methods. However, Listeria monocytogenes was detected in eight samples (all <10 cfu/g), which has not been reported in edible insects until now.

Honey Bees Extract Map Coordinates from the Dance

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhengwei Wang ◽  
Xiuxian Chen ◽  
Frank Becker ◽  
Uwe Greggers ◽  
Stefan Walter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Honey Bees ◽  
Information Transfer ◽  
Spatial Representation ◽  
Release Site ◽  
Waggle Dance ◽  
Symbolic Form ◽  
Site Search ◽  
True Location ◽  
Search Patterns ◽  
Map Location

Abstract Honeybees communicate locations by the waggle dance, a symbolic form of information transfer. Here we ask whether the recruited bee uses only the indicated course vector or translates it into a location vector on a cognitive map. Recruits were captured on exiting the hive and displaced to distant release sites. Their flights were tracked by radar. Both the vector portions of their flights and the ensuing tortuous search portions were strongly and differentially affected by release site. Search patterns were biased toward the true location of the food and away from the location given by adding release-site displacement to the danced vector. The results imply that the bees recruited by the dance access the indicated location of the food on a shared spatial representation. Thus, the bee dance communicates two messages, a flying instruction and a map location.

scholarly journals Parallel Mechanism Composed of Abdominal Cuticles and Muscles Simulates the Complex and Diverse Movements of Honey Bee (Apis mellifera L.) Abdomen

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Youjian Liang ◽  
Kuilin Meng ◽  
Jieliang Zhao ◽  
Jing Ren ◽  
Siqin Ge ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Parallel Mechanism ◽  
Waggle Dance ◽  
View Point ◽  
Attitude Adjustment ◽  
Behavioral Activities ◽  
Adjacent Segments ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract The abdominal intersegmental structures allow insects, such as honey bees, dragonflies, butterflies, and drosophilae, to complete diverse behavioral movements. In order to reveal how the complex abdominal movements of these insects are produced, we use the honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) as a typical insect to study the relationship between intersegmental structures and abdominal motions. Microstructure observational experiments are performed by using the stereoscope and the scanning electron microscope. We find that a parallel mechanism, composed of abdominal cuticle and muscles between the adjacent segments, produces the complex and diverse movements of the honey bee abdomen. These properties regulate multiple behavioral activities such as waggle dance and flight attitude adjustment. The experimental results demonstrate that it is the joint efforts of the muscles and membranes that connected the adjacent cuticles together. The honey bee abdomen can be waggled, expanded, contracted, and flexed with the actions of the muscles. From the view point of mechanics, a parallel mechanism is evolved from the intersegmental connection structures of the honey bee abdomen. Here, we conduct a kinematic analysis of the parallel mechanism to simulate the intersegmental abdominal motions.

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