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Alves DA, George EA, Kaur R, Brockmann A, Hrncir M, Grüter C. Diverse communication strategies in bees as a window into adaptations to an unpredictable world. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2219031120. [PMID: 37279263 PMCID: PMC10268221 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2219031120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Communication is a fundamental feature of animal societies and helps their members to solve the challenges they encounter, from exploiting food sources to fighting enemies or finding a new home. Eusocial bees inhabit a wide range of environments and they have evolved a multitude of communication signals that help them exploit resources in their environment efficiently. We highlight recent advances in our understanding of bee communication strategies and discuss how variation in social biology, such as colony size or nesting habits, and ecological conditions are important drivers of variation in communication strategies. Anthropogenic factors, such as habitat conversion, climate change, or the use of agrochemicals, are changing the world bees inhabit, and it is becoming clear that this affects communication both directly and indirectly, for example by affecting food source availability, social interactions among nestmates, and cognitive functions. Whether and how bees adapt their foraging and communication strategies to these changes represents a new frontier in bee behavioral and conservation research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Denise A. Alves
- Department of Entomology and Acarology, Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture, University of São Paulo, Lausanne,13418-900Piracicaba, Brazil
| | - Ebi A. George
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, Biophore, University of Lausanne, Bristol1015, Switzerland
| | - Rajbir Kaur
- School of Biological Sciences, University of BristolBS8 1TQ, United Kingdom
| | - Axel Brockmann
- National Centre for Biological Sciences – Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru560065, India
| | - Michael Hrncir
- Department of Physiology, Bioscience Institute, University of São Paulo05508-090São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Christoph Grüter
- School of Biological Sciences, University of BristolBS8 1TQ, United Kingdom
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2
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Shackleton K, Balfour NJ, Al Toufailia H, James E, Ratnieks FL. Honey bee waggle dances facilitate shorter foraging distances and increased foraging aggregation. Anim Behav 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2023.01.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/25/2023]
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3
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Social and individual learners use different pathways to success in an ant minisociety. Anim Behav 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2023.01.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/22/2023]
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4
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Rajagopal S, Brockmann A, George EA. Environment-dependent benefits of interindividual variation in honey bee recruitment. Anim Behav 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.07.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/01/2022]
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5
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Feng W, Huang J, Zhang Z, Nie H, Lin Y, Li Z, Su S. Understanding of Waggle Dance in the Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) from the Perspective of Long Non-Coding RNA. INSECTS 2022; 13:insects13020111. [PMID: 35206685 PMCID: PMC8878125 DOI: 10.3390/insects13020111] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2021] [Revised: 01/08/2022] [Accepted: 01/11/2022] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
The ethological study of dance behaviour has yielded some findings since Karl Von Frisch discovered and interpreted the ‘dance language’ in the honey bee. However, the function and role of long non-coding RNAs on dance behaviour are hardly known until now. In this study, the differential expression patterns of lncRNAs in the brains of waggling dancers and non-dancing bees were analysed by RNA sequencing. Furthermore, lncRNA-mRNA association analysis was constructed to decipher the waggle dance. The results of RNA sequencing indicated that a total of 2877 lncRNAs and 9647 mRNAs were detected from honey bee brains. Further comparison analysis displayed that two lncRNAs, MSTRG.6803.3 and XR_003305156.1, may be involved in the waggle dance. The lncRNA-mRNA association analysis showed that target genes of differentially expressed lncRNAs in the brains between waggling dancers and non-dancing bees were mainly annotated in biological processes related to metabolic process, signalling and response to stimulus and in molecular function associated with signal transducer activity, molecular transducer activity and binding. Nitrogen metabolism was likely implicated in the modulation of the waggle dance. Our findings contribute to further understanding the occurrence and development of waggle dance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wangjiang Feng
- College of Animal Sciences (College of Bee Science), Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China; (W.F.); (J.H.); (H.N.); (Y.L.)
| | - Jingnan Huang
- College of Animal Sciences (College of Bee Science), Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China; (W.F.); (J.H.); (H.N.); (Y.L.)
| | - Zhaonan Zhang
- Laboratory of Evolution and Diversity Biology (EDB), UMR5174, University Toulouse III Paul Sabatier, CNRS, 31062 Toulouse, France;
| | - Hongyi Nie
- College of Animal Sciences (College of Bee Science), Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China; (W.F.); (J.H.); (H.N.); (Y.L.)
| | - Yan Lin
- College of Animal Sciences (College of Bee Science), Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China; (W.F.); (J.H.); (H.N.); (Y.L.)
| | - Zhiguo Li
- College of Animal Sciences (College of Bee Science), Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China; (W.F.); (J.H.); (H.N.); (Y.L.)
- Correspondence: (Z.L.); (S.S.); Tel.: +86-150-0591-7215 (Z.L.); +86-136-6500-5782 (S.S.)
| | - Songkun Su
- College of Animal Sciences (College of Bee Science), Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China; (W.F.); (J.H.); (H.N.); (Y.L.)
- Correspondence: (Z.L.); (S.S.); Tel.: +86-150-0591-7215 (Z.L.); +86-136-6500-5782 (S.S.)
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6
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I’Anson Price R, Segers F, Berger A, Nascimento FS, Grüter C. An exploration of the relationship between recruitment communication and foraging in stingless bees. Curr Zool 2021; 67:551-560. [PMID: 34616953 PMCID: PMC8489157 DOI: 10.1093/cz/zoab043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2020] [Accepted: 05/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Social information is widely used in the animal kingdom and can be highly adaptive. In social insects, foragers can use social information to find food, avoid danger, or choose a new nest site. Copying others allows individuals to obtain information without having to sample the environment. When foragers communicate information they will often only advertise high-quality food sources, thereby filtering out less adaptive information. Stingless bees, a large pantropical group of highly eusocial bees, face intense inter- and intra-specific competition for limited resources, yet display disparate foraging strategies. Within the same environment there are species that communicate the location of food resources to nest-mates and species that do not. Our current understanding of why some species communicate foraging sites while others do not is limited. Studying freely foraging colonies of several co-existing stingless bee species in Brazil, we investigated if recruitment to specific food locations is linked to 1) the sugar content of forage, 2) the duration of foraging trips, and 3) the variation in activity of a colony from 1 day to another and the variation in activity in a species over a day. We found that, contrary to our expectations, species with recruitment communication did not return with higher quality forage than species that do not recruit nestmates. Furthermore, foragers from recruiting species did not have shorter foraging trip durations than those from weakly recruiting species. Given the intense inter- and intraspecific competition for resources in these environments, it may be that recruiting species favor food resources that can be monopolized by the colony rather than food sources that offer high-quality rewards.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robbie I’Anson Price
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne 1015, Switzerland
- Swiss Centre for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Genève 1201, Switzerland
| | - Francisca Segers
- Department for Applied Bioinformatics, Institute of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Goethe University, Frankfurt 60438, Germany
| | - Amelia Berger
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne 1015, Switzerland
| | - Fabio S Nascimento
- Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo CEP 14040-901, Brazil
| | - Christoph Grüter
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, 24 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TQ, UK
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7
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Goy N, Glaser SM, Grüter C. The adaptive value of tandem communication in ants: Insights from an agent-based model. J Theor Biol 2021; 526:110762. [PMID: 33992692 DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2021.110762] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2020] [Revised: 04/12/2021] [Accepted: 05/07/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Social animals often share information about the location of resources, such as a food source or a new nest-site. One well-studied communication strategy in ants is tandem running, whereby a leader guides a recruit to a resource. Tandem running is considered an example of animal teaching because a leader adjusts her behaviour and invests time to help another ant to learn the location of a resource more efficiently. Tandem running also has costs, such as waiting inside the nest for a leader and a reduced walking speed. Whether and when these costs outweigh the benefits of tandem running is not well understood. We developed an agent-based simulation model to investigate the conditions that favour communication by tandem running during foraging. We predicted that the spatio-temporal distribution of food sources, colony size and the ratio of scouts and recruits affect colony foraging success. Our results suggest that tandem running is favoured when food sources are hard to find, differ in energetic value and are long lasting. These results mirror the findings of simulations of honeybee communication. Scouts locate food sources faster than tandem followers in some environments, suggesting that tandem running may fulfil the criteria of teaching only in some situations. Furthermore, tandem running was only beneficial above a critical colony size threshold. Taken together, our model suggests that there is a considerable parameter range that favours colonies that do not use communication by tandem running, which could explain why many ants with small colony sizes forage solitarily.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natascha Goy
- Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolutionary Biology, Johannes-Gutenberg University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
| | - Simone M Glaser
- Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolutionary Biology, Johannes-Gutenberg University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Christoph Grüter
- Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolutionary Biology, Johannes-Gutenberg University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany; School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, 24 Tyndall Avenue, BS8 1TQ Bristol, UK
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8
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Linn M, Glaser SM, Peng T, Grüter C. Octopamine and dopamine mediate waggle dance following and information use in honeybees. Proc Biol Sci 2020; 287:20201950. [PMID: 33049176 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.1950] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Honeybees can be directed to profitable food sources by following waggle dances performed by other bees. Followers can often choose between using this social information or relying on memories about food sources they have visited in the past, so-called private information. While the circumstances that favour the use of either social or private information have received considerable attention, still little is known about the neurophysiological basis of information use. We hypothesized that octopamine and dopamine, two biogenic amines with important functions in reward signalling and learning, affect dance use in honeybees. We orally administered octopamine and dopamine when bees collected food at artificial feeders and tested if this affected interest in dance information about a new food source. We predicted that octopamine reduces interest in dances and strengthens private information use via an increase in the perceived value of the previously exploited resource. Since dopamine has been shown to lower reward perception, we expected it to act in the opposite direction. Octopamine-treated foragers indeed followed 32% fewer dances than control bees and increased the use of private information. Conversely, dopamine-treated bees followed dances 15% longer than control bees, but surprisingly did not use social information more. Overall, our results suggest that biogenic amine signalling affects interactions among dancers and dance followers and, thus, information flow about high-quality food sources.
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Affiliation(s)
- Melissa Linn
- Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution, Johannes Gutenberg-University of Mainz, 55128 Mainz, Germany
| | - Simone M Glaser
- Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution, Johannes Gutenberg-University of Mainz, 55128 Mainz, Germany
| | - Tianfei Peng
- Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution, Johannes Gutenberg-University of Mainz, 55128 Mainz, Germany
| | - Christoph Grüter
- Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution, Johannes Gutenberg-University of Mainz, 55128 Mainz, Germany
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9
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Kohl PL, Thulasi N, Rutschmann B, George EA, Steffan-Dewenter I, Brockmann A. Adaptive evolution of honeybee dance dialects. Proc Biol Sci 2020; 287:20200190. [PMID: 32126959 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.0190] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Efficient communication is highly important for the evolutionary success of social animals. Honeybees (genus Apis) are unique in that they communicate the spatial information of resources using a symbolic 'language', the waggle dance. Different honeybee species differ in foraging ecology but it remains unknown whether this shaped variation in the dance. We studied distance dialects-interspecific differences in how waggle duration relates to flight distance-and tested the hypothesis that these evolved to maximize communication precision over the bees' foraging ranges. We performed feeder experiments with Apis cerana, A. florea and A. dorsata in India and found that A. cerana had the steepest dialect, i.e. a rapid increase in waggle duration with increasing feeder distance, A. florea had an intermediate, and A. dorsata had the lowest dialect. By decoding dances for natural food sites, we inferred that the foraging range was smallest in A. cerana, intermediate in A. florea and largest in A. dorsata. The inverse correlation between foraging range and dialect was corroborated when comparing six (sub)species across the geographical range of the genus including previously published data. We conclude that dance dialects constitute adaptations resulting from a trade-off between the spatial range and the spatial accuracy of communication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick L Kohl
- National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bellary Road, Bangalore 560065, India.,Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany
| | - Neethu Thulasi
- National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bellary Road, Bangalore 560065, India.,Department of Apiculture, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bellary Road, Bangalore 560065, India
| | - Benjamin Rutschmann
- National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bellary Road, Bangalore 560065, India.,Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany
| | - Ebi A George
- National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bellary Road, Bangalore 560065, India
| | - Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter
- Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany
| | - Axel Brockmann
- National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bellary Road, Bangalore 560065, India
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10
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Hasenjager MJ, Hoppitt W, Leadbeater E. Network-based diffusion analysis reveals context-specific dominance of dance communication in foraging honeybees. Nat Commun 2020; 11:625. [PMID: 32005817 PMCID: PMC6994492 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-14410-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2019] [Accepted: 12/19/2019] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
The honeybee (Apis mellifera) dance communication system is a marvel of collective behaviour, but the added value it brings to colony foraging efficiency is poorly understood. In temperate environments, preventing communication of foraging locations rarely decreases colony food intake, potentially because simultaneous transmission of olfactory information also plays a major role in foraging. Here, we employ social network analyses that quantify information flow across multiple temporally varying networks (each representing a different interaction type) to evaluate the relative contributions of dance communication and hive-based olfactory information transfer to honeybee recruitment events. We show that virtually all successful recruits to novel locations rely upon dance information rather than olfactory cues that could otherwise guide them to the same resource. Conversely, during reactivation to known sites, dances are relatively less important, as foragers are primarily guided by olfactory information. By disentangling the contributions of multiple information networks, the contexts in which dance communication truly matters amid a complex system full of redundancy can now be identified. Honeybees have a sophisticated system to communicate foraging locations through a “dance”, but they also share food-related olfactory cues. Here, Hasenjager and colleagues use social network analysis to disentangle how foraging information is transmitted through these systems in different contexts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew J Hasenjager
- Department of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, TW20 0EX, UK.
| | - William Hoppitt
- Department of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, TW20 0EX, UK
| | - Ellouise Leadbeater
- Department of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, TW20 0EX, UK
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11
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Grüter C, Czaczkes TJ. Communication in social insects and how it is shaped by individual experience. Anim Behav 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2019.01.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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12
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George EA, Brockmann A. Social modulation of individual differences in dance communication in honey bees. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-019-2649-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
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13
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Mitchell D. Thermal efficiency extends distance and variety for honeybee foragers: analysis of the energetics of nectar collection and desiccation by Apis mellifera. J R Soc Interface 2019; 16:20180879. [PMID: 30958150 PMCID: PMC6364643 DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2018.0879] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2018] [Accepted: 12/24/2018] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
Abstract
The desiccation of nectar to produce honey by honeybees ( Apis mellifera L.) is an energy-intensive process, as it involves a quasi-isothermal change in the concentration of sugars from typically 20 to 80% by vaporization (honey ripening). This analysis creates mathematical models for: the collected nectar to honey ratio; energy recovery ratio; honey energy margin; and the break-even distance, which includes the factors of nectar concentration and the distance to the nectar from the nest; energetics of desiccation and a new factor, thermal energy efficiency (TEE) of nectar desiccation. These models show a significant proportion of delivered energy in the nectar must be used in desiccation, and that there is a strong connection between TEE and nest lumped thermal conductance with colony behaviour. They show the connection between TEE and honeybee colony success, or failure, in the rate of return, in terms of distance or quality of foraging. Consequently, TEE is a key parameter in honeybee populations and foraging modelling. For bee keeping, it quantifies the summer benefits of a key hive design parameter, hive thermal conductance and gives a sound theoretical basis for improving honey yields, as seen in expanded polystyrene hives.
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Affiliation(s)
- Derek Mitchell
- School of Mechanical Engineering, Leeds University, Leeds Yorkshire, UK
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14
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Page H, Sweeney A, Pilko A, Pinter-Wollman N. Underlying mechanisms and ecological context of variation in exploratory behavior of the Argentine ant, Linepithema humile. J Exp Biol 2018; 221:jeb188722. [PMID: 30385482 PMCID: PMC6307874 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.188722] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2018] [Accepted: 10/29/2018] [Indexed: 01/30/2023]
Abstract
Uncovering how and why animals explore their environment is fundamental for understanding population dynamics, the spread of invasive species, species interactions, etc. In social animals, individuals within a group can vary in their exploratory behavior, and the behavioral composition of the group can determine its collective success. Workers of the invasive Argentine ant (Linepithema humile) exhibit individual variation in exploratory behavior, which affects the colony's collective nest selection behavior. Here, we examine the mechanisms underlying this behavioral variation in exploratory behavior and determine its implications for the ecology of this species. We first establish that individual variation in exploratory behavior is repeatable and consistent across situations. We then show a relationship between exploratory behavior and the expression of genes that have been previously linked with other behaviors in social insects. Specifically, we found a negative relationship between exploratory behavior and the expression of the foraging (Lhfor) gene. Finally, we determine how colonies allocate exploratory individuals in natural conditions. We found that ants from inside the nest are the least exploratory individuals, whereas workers on newly formed foraging trails are the most exploratory individuals. Furthermore, we found temporal differences throughout the year: in early-mid spring, when new resources emerge, workers are more exploratory than at the end of winter, potentially allowing the colony to find and exploit new resources. These findings reveal the importance of individual variation in behavior for the ecology of social animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hannah Page
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Andrew Sweeney
- Biocircuits Institute, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA 92093, USA
| | - Anna Pilko
- Institute of Quantitative and Computational Biosciences, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Noa Pinter-Wollman
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- Institute of Quantitative and Computational Biosciences, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
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15
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Mosqueiro T, Cook C, Huerta R, Gadau J, Smith B, Pinter-Wollman N. Task allocation and site fidelity jointly influence foraging regulation in honeybee colonies. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2017; 4:170344. [PMID: 28878985 PMCID: PMC5579100 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.170344] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2017] [Accepted: 07/25/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Variation in behaviour among group members often impacts collective outcomes. Individuals may vary both in the task that they perform and in the persistence with which they perform each task. Although both the distribution of individuals among tasks and differences among individuals in behavioural persistence can each impact collective behaviour, we do not know if and how they jointly affect collective outcomes. Here, we use a detailed computational model to examine the joint impact of colony-level distribution among tasks and behavioural persistence of individuals, specifically their fidelity to particular resource sites, on the collective trade-off between exploring for new resources and exploiting familiar ones. We developed an agent-based model of foraging honeybees, parametrized by data from five colonies, in which we simulated scouts, who search the environment for new resources, and individuals who are recruited by the scouts to the newly found resources, i.e. recruits. We varied the persistence of returning to a particular food source of both scouts and recruits and found that, for each value of persistence, there is a different optimal ratio of scouts to recruits that maximizes resource collection by the colony. Furthermore, changes to the persistence of scouts induced opposite effects from changes to the persistence of recruits on the collective foraging of the colony. The proportion of scouts that resulted in the most resources collected by the colony decreased as the persistence of recruits increased. However, this optimal proportion of scouts increased as the persistence of scouts increased. Thus, behavioural persistence and task participation can interact to impact a colony's collective behaviour in orthogonal directions. Our work provides new insights and generates new hypotheses into how variations in behaviour at both the individual and colony levels jointly impact the trade-off between exploring for new resources and exploiting familiar ones.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thiago Mosqueiro
- BioCircuits Institute, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Chelsea Cook
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Ramon Huerta
- BioCircuits Institute, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Jürgen Gadau
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
- Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Brian Smith
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Noa Pinter-Wollman
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
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16
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Nürnberger F, Steffan-Dewenter I, Härtel S. Combined effects of waggle dance communication and landscape heterogeneity on nectar and pollen uptake in honey bee colonies. PeerJ 2017; 5:e3441. [PMID: 28603677 PMCID: PMC5466000 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.3441] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2017] [Accepted: 05/18/2017] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The instructive component of waggle dance communication has been shown to increase resource uptake of Apis mellifera colonies in highly heterogeneous resource environments, but an assessment of its relevance in temperate landscapes with different levels of resource heterogeneity is currently lacking. We hypothesized that the advertisement of resource locations via dance communication would be most relevant in highly heterogeneous landscapes with large spatial variation of floral resources. To test our hypothesis, we placed 24 Apis mellifera colonies with either disrupted or unimpaired instructive component of dance communication in eight Central European agricultural landscapes that differed in heterogeneity and resource availability. We monitored colony weight change and pollen harvest as measure of foraging success. Dance disruption did not significantly alter colony weight change, but decreased pollen harvest compared to the communicating colonies by 40%. There was no general effect of resource availability on nectar or pollen foraging success, but the effect of landscape heterogeneity on nectar uptake was stronger when resource availability was high. In contrast to our hypothesis, the effects of disrupted bee communication on nectar and pollen foraging success were not stronger in landscapes with heterogeneous compared to homogenous resource environments. Our results indicate that in temperate regions intra-colonial communication of resource locations benefits pollen foraging more than nectar foraging, irrespective of landscape heterogeneity. We conclude that the so far largely unexplored role of dance communication in pollen foraging requires further consideration as pollen is a crucial resource for colony development and health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabian Nürnberger
- Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Bayerische Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter
- Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Bayerische Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Stephan Härtel
- Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Bayerische Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
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17
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Baveco JM, Focks A, Belgers D, van der Steen JJ, Boesten JJ, Roessink I. An energetics-based honeybee nectar-foraging model used to assess the potential for landscape-level pesticide exposure dilution. PeerJ 2016; 4:e2293. [PMID: 27602273 PMCID: PMC4991850 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.2293] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2015] [Accepted: 07/06/2016] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Estimating the exposure of honeybees to pesticides on a landscape scale requires models of their spatial foraging behaviour. For this purpose, we developed a mechanistic, energetics-based model for a single day of nectar foraging in complex landscape mosaics. Net energetic efficiency determined resource patch choice. In one version of the model a single optimal patch was selected each hour. In another version, recruitment of foragers was simulated and several patches could be exploited simultaneously. Resource availability changed during the day due to depletion and/or intrinsic properties of the resource (anthesis). The model accounted for the impact of patch distance and size, resource depletion and replenishment, competition with other nectar foragers, and seasonal and diurnal patterns in availability of nectar-providing crops and wild flowers. From the model we derived simple rules for resource patch selection, e.g., for landscapes with mass-flowering crops only, net energetic efficiency would be proportional to the ratio of the energetic content of the nectar divided by distance to the hive. We also determined maximum distances at which resources like oilseed rape and clover were still energetically attractive. We used the model to assess the potential for pesticide exposure dilution in landscapes of different composition and complexity. Dilution means a lower concentration in nectar arriving at the hive compared to the concentration in nectar at a treated field and can result from foraging effort being diverted away from treated fields. Applying the model for all possible hive locations over a large area, distributions of dilution factors were obtained that were characterised by their 90-percentile value. For an area for which detailed spatial data on crops and off-field semi-natural habitats were available, we tested three landscape management scenarios that were expected to lead to exposure dilution: providing alternative resources than the target crop (oilseed rape) in the form of (i) other untreated crop fields, (ii) flower strips of different widths at field edges (off-crop in-field resources), and (iii) resources on off-field (semi-natural) habitats. For both model versions, significant dilution occurred only when alternative resource patches were equal or more attractive than oilseed rape, nearby and numerous and only in case of flower strips and off-field habitats. On an area-base, flower strips were more than one order of magnitude more effective than off-field habitats, the main reason being that flower strips had an optimal location. The two model versions differed in the predicted number of resource patches exploited over the day, but mainly in landscapes with numerous small resource patches. In landscapes consisting of few large resource patches (crop fields) both versions predicted the use of a small number of patches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johannes M. Baveco
- Alterra, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Andreas Focks
- Alterra, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Dick Belgers
- Alterra, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | | | - Jos J.T.I. Boesten
- Alterra, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Ivo Roessink
- Alterra, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
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Smith GW, Debinski DM, Scavo NA, Lange CJ, Delaney JT, Moranz RA, Miller JR, Engle DM, Toth AL. Bee Abundance and Nutritional Status in Relation to Grassland Management Practices in an Agricultural Landscape. ENVIRONMENTAL ENTOMOLOGY 2016; 45:338-347. [PMID: 26921883 DOI: 10.1093/ee/nvw005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2015] [Accepted: 01/19/2016] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
Grasslands provide important resources for pollinators in agricultural landscapes. Managing grasslands with fire and grazing has the potential to benefit plant and pollinator communities, though there is uncertainty about the ideal approach. We examined the relationships among burning and grazing regimes, plant communities, and Bombus species and Apis mellifera L. abundance and nutritional indicators at the Grand River Grasslands in southern Iowa and northern Missouri. Treatment regimes included burn-only, grazed-and-burned, and patch-burn graze (pastures subdivided into three temporally distinct fire patches with free access by cattle). The premise of the experimental design was that patch-burn grazing would increase habitat heterogeneity, thereby providing more diverse and abundant floral resources for pollinators. We predicted that both bee abundance and individual bee nutritional indicators (bee size and lipid content) would be positively correlated with floral resource abundance. There were no significant differences among treatments with respect to bee abundance. However, some of the specific characteristics of the plant community showed significant relationships with bee response variables. Pastures with greater abundance of floral resources had greater bee abundance but lower bee nutritional indicators. Bee nutritional variables were positively correlated with vegetation height, but, in some cases, negatively correlated with stocking rate. These results suggest grassland site characteristics such as floral resource abundance and stocking rate are of potential importance to bee pollinators and suggest avenues for further research to untangle the complex interactions between grassland management, plant responses, and bee health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Griffin W Smith
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011 (; ; ; ; ; ; )
| | - Diane M Debinski
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011 (; ; ; ; ; ; )
| | - Nicole A Scavo
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011 (; ; ; ; ; ; )
| | - Corey J Lange
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011 (; ; ; ; ; ; )
| | - John T Delaney
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011 (; ; ; ; ; ; )
| | - Raymond A Moranz
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011 (; ; ; ; ; ; )
| | - James R Miller
- Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801
| | - David M Engle
- Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078
| | - Amy L Toth
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011 (; ; ; ; ; ; ),
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19
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I'Anson Price R, Grüter C. Why, when and where did honey bee dance communication evolve? Front Ecol Evol 2015. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2015.00125] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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20
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Katz K, Naug D. Energetic state regulates the exploration–exploitation trade-off in honeybees. Behav Ecol 2015. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arv045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
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21
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Ratnieks FLW, Shackleton K. Does the waggle dance help honey bees to forage at greater distances than expected for their body size? Front Ecol Evol 2015. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2015.00031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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22
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Beekman M, Makinson JC, Couvillon MJ, Preece K, Schaerf TM. Honeybee linguistics—a comparative analysis of the waggle dance among species of Apis. Front Ecol Evol 2015. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2015.00011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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23
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Donaldson-Matasci M, Dornhaus A. Dance communication affects consistency, but not breadth, of resource use in pollen-foraging honey bees. PLoS One 2014; 9:e107527. [PMID: 25271418 PMCID: PMC4182680 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0107527] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2013] [Accepted: 08/19/2014] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
In groups of cooperatively foraging individuals, communication may improve the group’s performance by directing foraging effort to where it is most useful. Honey bees (Apis mellifera) use a specialized dance to communicate the location of floral resources. Because honey bees dance longer for more rewarding resources, communication may shift the colony’s foraging effort towards higher quality resources, and thus narrow the spectrum of resource types used. To test the hypothesis that dance communication changes how much honey bee colonies specialize on particular resources, we manipulated their ability to communicate location, and assessed the relative abundance of different pollen taxa they collected. This was repeated across five natural habitats that differed in floral species richness and spatial distribution. Contrary to expectation, impairing communication did not change the number or diversity of pollen (resource) types used by individual colonies per day. However, colonies with intact dance communication were more consistent in their resource use, while those with impaired communication were more likely to collect rare, novel pollen types. This suggests that communication plays an important role in shaping how much colonies invest in exploring new resources versus exploiting known ones. Furthermore, colonies that did more exploration also tended to collect less pollen overall, but only in environments with greater floral abundance per patch. In such environments, the ability to effectively exploit highly rewarding resources may be especially important–and dance communication may help colonies do just that. This could help explain how communication benefits honey bee colonies, and also why it does so only under certain environmental conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matina Donaldson-Matasci
- Department of Biology, Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, California, United States of America
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - Anna Dornhaus
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, United States of America
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24
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Schürch R, Grüter C. Dancing bees improve colony foraging success as long-term benefits outweigh short-term costs. PLoS One 2014; 9:e104660. [PMID: 25141306 PMCID: PMC4139316 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0104660] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2014] [Accepted: 07/14/2014] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Waggle dancing bees provide nestmates with spatial information about high quality resources. Surprisingly, attempts to quantify the benefits of this encoded spatial information have failed to find positive effects on colony foraging success under many ecological circumstances. Experimental designs have often involved measuring the foraging success of colonies that were repeatedly switched between oriented dances versus disoriented dances (i.e. communicating vectors versus not communicating vectors). However, if recruited bees continue to visit profitable food sources for more than one day, this procedure would lead to confounded results because of the long-term effects of successful recruitment events. Using agent-based simulations, we found that spatial information was beneficial in almost all ecological situations. Contrary to common belief, the benefits of recruitment increased with environmental stability because benefits can accumulate over time to outweigh the short-term costs of recruitment. Furthermore, we found that in simulations mimicking previous experiments, the benefits of communication were considerably underestimated (at low food density) or not detected at all (at medium and high densities). Our results suggest that the benefits of waggle dance communication are currently underestimated and that different experimental designs, which account for potential long-term benefits, are needed to measure empirically how spatial information affects colony foraging success.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roger Schürch
- Laboratory of Apiculture and Social Insects, School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer, United Kingdom
| | - Christoph Grüter
- Departamento de Biologia da Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil
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25
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Preece K, Beekman M. Honeybee waggle dance error: adaption or constraint? Unravelling the complex dance language of honeybees. Anim Behav 2014. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2014.05.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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26
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Insights from insects about adaptive social information use. Trends Ecol Evol 2014; 29:177-84. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2014.01.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 125] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2013] [Revised: 09/30/2013] [Accepted: 01/11/2014] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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27
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Okada R, Ikeno H, Kimura T, Ohashi M, Aonuma H, Ito E. Error in the honeybee waggle dance improves foraging flexibility. Sci Rep 2014; 4:4175. [PMID: 24569525 PMCID: PMC3935192 DOI: 10.1038/srep04175] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2013] [Accepted: 02/06/2014] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
The honeybee waggle dance communicates the location of profitable food sources, usually with a certain degree of error in the directional information ranging from 10–15° at the lower margin. We simulated one-day colonial foraging to address the biological significance of information error in the waggle dance. When the error was 30° or larger, the waggle dance was not beneficial. If the error was 15°, the waggle dance was beneficial when the food sources were scarce. When the error was 10° or smaller, the waggle dance was beneficial under all the conditions tested. Our simulation also showed that precise information (0–5° error) yielded great success in finding feeders, but also caused failures at finding new feeders, i.e., a high-risk high-return strategy. The observation that actual bees perform the waggle dance with an error of 10–15° might reflect, at least in part, the maintenance of a successful yet risky foraging trade-off.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryuichi Okada
- Kagawa School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tokushima Bunri University, 1314-1 Shido, Sanuki, Kagawa 769-2193, Japan
| | - Hidetoshi Ikeno
- School of Human Science and Environment, University of Hyogo, 1-1-12 Shinzaike-Honcho, Himeji, Hyogo 670-0092, Japan
| | - Toshifumi Kimura
- School of Human Science and Environment, University of Hyogo, 1-1-12 Shinzaike-Honcho, Himeji, Hyogo 670-0092, Japan
| | - Mizue Ohashi
- School of Human Science and Environment, University of Hyogo, 1-1-12 Shinzaike-Honcho, Himeji, Hyogo 670-0092, Japan
| | - Hitoshi Aonuma
- Research Institute for Electronic Science, Hokkaido University, Kita 12, Nishi 7, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-0812, Japan
| | - Etsuro Ito
- Kagawa School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tokushima Bunri University, 1314-1 Shido, Sanuki, Kagawa 769-2193, Japan
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28
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The contribution of private and public information in foraging by Australasian gannets. Anim Cogn 2013; 17:849-58. [DOI: 10.1007/s10071-013-0716-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2013] [Revised: 11/11/2013] [Accepted: 11/25/2013] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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29
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Tan K, Wang Z, Yang M, Fuchs S, Luo L, Zhang Z, Li H, Zhuang D, Yang S, Tautz J, Beekman M, Oldroyd BP. Asian hive bees, Apis cerana, modulate dance communication in response to nectar toxicity and demand. Anim Behav 2012. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2012.09.037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
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30
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Okada R, Ikeno H, Kimura T, Ohashi M, Aonuma H, Ito E. Mathematical analysis of the honeybee waggle dance. ACTA BIOLOGICA HUNGARICA 2012; 63 Suppl 2:75-9. [PMID: 22776476 DOI: 10.1556/abiol.63.2012.suppl.2.8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
A honeybee informs her nestmates of the location of a flower by doing a waggle dance. The waggle dance encodes both the direction of and distance to the flower from the hive. To reveal how the waggle dance benefits the colony, we created a Markov model of bee foraging behavior and performed simulation experiments by incorporating the biological parameters that we obtained from our own observations of real bees as well as from the literature. When two feeders were each placed 400 m away from the hive in different directions, a virtual colony in which honeybees danced and correctly transferred information (a normal, real bee colony) made significantly greater numbers of successful visits to the feeders compared to a colony with inaccurate information transfer. Howerer, when five feeders were each located 400 m from the hive, the inaccurate information transfer colony performed better than the normal colony. These results suggest that dancing's ability to communicate accurate information depends on the number of feeders. Furthermore, because non-dancing colonies always made significantly fewer visits than those two colonies, we concluded that dancing behavior is beneficial for hives' ability to visit food sources.
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Affiliation(s)
- R Okada
- Kagawa School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tokushima Bunri University, Sanuki, Kagawa 769-2193, Japan.
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31
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Okada R, Akamatsu T, Iwata K, Ikeno H, Kimura T, Ohashi M, Aonuma H, Ito E. Waggle dance effect: dancing in autumn reduces the mass loss of a honeybee colony. J Exp Biol 2012; 215:1633-41. [PMID: 22539730 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.068650] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
SUMMARY
A honeybee informs her nestmates about the location of a profitable food source that she has visited by means of a waggle dance: a round dance and a figure-of-eight dance for a short- and long-distance food source, respectively. Consequently, the colony achieves an effective collection of food. However, it is still not fully understood how much effect the dance behavior has on the food collection, because most of the relevant experiments have been performed only in limited locations under limited experimental conditions. Here, we examined the efficacy of the waggle dances by physically preventing bees from dancing and then analyzing the changes in daily mass of the hive as an index of daily food collection. To eliminate place- and year-specific effects, the experiments were performed under fully natural conditions in three different cities in Japan from mid September to early October in three different years. Because the experiments were performed in autumn, all six of the tested colonies lost mass on most of the experimental days. When the dance was prevented, the daily reduction in mass change was greater than when the dance was allowed, i.e. the dance inhibited the reduction of the hive mass. This indicates that dance is effective for food collection. Furthermore, clear inhibition was observed on the first two days of the experiments; after that, inhibition was no longer evident. This result suggests that the bee colony adapted to the new environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryuichi Okada
- Laboratory of Functional Biology, Kagawa School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tokushima Bunri University, 1314-1 Shido, Sanuki, Kagawa 769-2193, Japan
| | - Tadaaki Akamatsu
- School of Human Science and Environment, University of Hyogo, 1-1-12 Shinzaike-Honcho, Himeji, Hyogo 670-0092, Japan
| | - Kanako Iwata
- School of Human Science and Environment, University of Hyogo, 1-1-12 Shinzaike-Honcho, Himeji, Hyogo 670-0092, Japan
| | - Hidetoshi Ikeno
- School of Human Science and Environment, University of Hyogo, 1-1-12 Shinzaike-Honcho, Himeji, Hyogo 670-0092, Japan
| | - Toshifumi Kimura
- School of Human Science and Environment, University of Hyogo, 1-1-12 Shinzaike-Honcho, Himeji, Hyogo 670-0092, Japan
| | - Mizue Ohashi
- School of Human Science and Environment, University of Hyogo, 1-1-12 Shinzaike-Honcho, Himeji, Hyogo 670-0092, Japan
| | - Hitoshi Aonuma
- Laboratory of Neurocybernetics, Research Institute for Electronic Science, Hokkaido University, Kita 12, Nishi 7, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-0812, Japan
| | - Etsuro Ito
- Laboratory of Functional Biology, Kagawa School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tokushima Bunri University, 1314-1 Shido, Sanuki, Kagawa 769-2193, Japan
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32
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Okada R, Ikeno H, Aonuma H, Ito E. Biological Insights Into Robotics: Honeybee Foraging Behavior by a Waggle Dance. Adv Robot 2012. [DOI: 10.1163/156855308x368967] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Ryuichi Okada
- a Kagawa School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tokushima Bunri University, Sanuki, Kagawa 769-2193, Japan
| | - Hidetoshi Ikeno
- b School of Human Science and Environment, University of Hyogo, Himeji, Hyogo 670-0092, Japan
| | - Hitoshi Aonuma
- c Research Institute for Electronic Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0812, Japan
| | - Etsuro Ito
- d Kagawa School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tokushima Bunri University, Sanuki, Kagawa 769-2193, Japan
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33
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Granovskiy B, Latty T, Duncan M, Sumpter DJT, Beekman M. How dancing honey bees keep track of changes: the role of inspector bees. Behav Ecol 2012. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/ars002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
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34
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Van Nest BN, Moore D. Energetically optimal foraging strategy is emergent property of time-keeping behavior in honey bees. Behav Ecol 2012. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/ars010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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35
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Abstract
Honey bees (Apis mellifera) use the dance language to symbolically convey information about the location of floral resources from within the nest. To figure out why this unique ability evolved, we need to understand the benefits it offers to the colony. Previous studies have shown that, in fact, the location information in the dance is not always beneficial. We ask, in which ecological habitats do honey bee colonies actually benefit from the dance language, and what is it about those habitats that makes communication useful? In this study, we examine the effects of floral distribution patterns on the benefits of dance communication across five different habitats. In each habitat, we manipulated colonies' ability to communicate and measured their foraging success, while simultaneously characterizing the naturally occurring floral distribution. We find that communication is most beneficial when floral species richness is high and patches contain many flowers. These are ecological features that could have helped shape the evolution of the honey bee dance language.
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36
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Dussutour A, Nicolis SC, Shephard G, Beekman M, Sumpter DJT. The role of multiple pheromones in food recruitment by ants. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2009; 212:2337-48. [PMID: 19617426 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.029827] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
In this paper we investigate the foraging activity of an invasive ant species, the big headed ant Pheidole megacephala. We establish that the ants' behavior is consistent with the use of two different pheromone signals, both of which recruit nestmates. Our experiments suggest that during exploration the ants deposit a long-lasting pheromone that elicits a weak recruitment of nestmates, while when exploiting food the ants deposit a shorter lasting pheromone eliciting a much stronger recruitment. We further investigate experimentally the role of these pheromones under both static and dynamic conditions and develop a mathematical model based on the hypothesis that exploration locally enhances exploitation, while exploitation locally suppresses exploration. The model and the experiments indicate that exploratory pheromone allows the colony to more quickly mobilize foragers when food is discovered. Furthermore, the combination of two pheromones allows colonies to track changing foraging conditions more effectively than would a single pheromone. In addition to the already known causes for the ecological success of invasive ant species, our study suggests that their opportunistic strategy of rapid food discovery and ability to react to changes in the environment may have strongly contributed to their dominance over native species.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Dussutour
- School of Biological Sciences and Centre for Mathematical Biology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
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37
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Moore D, Doherty P. Acquisition of a time-memory in forager honey bees. J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol 2009; 195:741-51. [PMID: 19462172 DOI: 10.1007/s00359-009-0450-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2008] [Revised: 05/03/2009] [Accepted: 05/03/2009] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
Forager honey bees can associate the time of day with the presence of food at locations outside the hive. It is thought that this time-memory enables the bee to make a spatio-temporal match between its behavior and floral nectar secretion rhythms. Despite a long tradition of research, the mechanisms by which the time-memory becomes established are unknown. We investigated the influences of two experiential factors on the acquisition of time-memory: (1) the number of collecting visits made by the forager within a feeding bout during a restricted time of day and (2) the number of days of exposure to the restricted feeding time. Our results indicate that these two factors control different processes. The number of days of experience influences the temporal accuracy of reconnaissance behavior to the food source. The cumulative number of collecting visits within the feeding bouts has no apparent effect on time-accuracy but, instead, determines the probability of exhibiting food-anticipatory behavior and, if that overt behavior is performed, the intensity of its expression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Darrell Moore
- Department of Biological Sciences, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN 37614, USA.
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38
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Dance precision of Apis florea—clues to the evolution of the honeybee dance language? Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2008. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-008-0554-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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