The Wisdom of the Hive: The Social Physiology of Honey Bee Colonies

Front Cover
......Page 1
Title Page
......Page 4
Copyright......Page 5
Dedication
......Page 7
Contents......Page 8
Preface......Page 12
Part I: Introduction......Page 16
1.1. The Evolution of Biological Organization......Page 18
1.2. The Honey Bee Colony as a Unit of Function......Page 22
1.3. Analytic Scheme......Page 31
2. The Honey Bee Colony......Page 37
2.1. Worker Anatomy and Physiology......Page 38
2.2. Worker Life History......Page 43
2.3. Nest Architecture......Page 46
2.4. The Annual Cycle of a Colony......Page 49
2.5. Communication about Food Sources......Page 51
2.6. Food Collection and Honey Production......Page 54
3. The Foraging Abilities of a Colony......Page 61
3.1. Exploiting Food Sources over a Vast Region around the Hive......Page 62
3.2. Surveying the Countryside for Rich Food Sources......Page 65
3.3. Responding Quickly to Valuable Discoveries......Page 67
3.4. Choosing among Food Sources......Page 69
3.5. Adjusting Selectivity in Relation to Forage Abundance......Page 74
3.6. Regulating Comb Construction......Page 76
3.7. Regulating Pollen Collection......Page 78
3.8. Regulating Water Collection......Page 80
Summary......Page 81
Part II: Experimental Analysis......Page 84
4.1. The Observation Hive......Page 86
4.2. The Hut for the Observation Hive......Page 89
4.3. The Bees......Page 90
4.4. Sugar Water Feeders......Page 92
4.5. Labeling Bees......Page 94
4.8. Recording the Behavior of Bees in the Hive......Page 96
4.9. The Scale Hive......Page 97
4.10. Censusing a Colony......Page 98
5. Allocation of Labor among Forage Sites......Page 99
5.1. Which Bees Gather the Information?......Page 100
5.3. Where Information Is Shared inside the Hive......Page 103
5.4. The Coding of Information about Profitability......Page 105
5.5. The Bees’ Criterion of Profitability......Page 109
5.6. The Relationship between Nectar-Source Profitability and Waggle Dance Duration......Page 113
5.7. The Adaptive Tuning of Dance Thresholds......Page 117
5.8. How a Forager Determines the Profitability of a Nectar Source......Page 128
Summary......Page 134
5.9. Employed Foragers versus Unemployed Foragers......Page 137
5.10. How Unemployed Foragers Read the Information on the Dance Floor......Page 139
5.11. How Employed Foragers Respond to Information about Food-Source Profitability......Page 147
5.12. The Correct Distribution of Foragers among Nectar Sources......Page 149
5.13. Cross Inhibition between Forager Groups......Page 157
5.14. The Pattern and Effectiveness of Forager Allocation among Nectar Sources......Page 160
Summary......Page 166
6. Coordination of Nectar Collecting and Nectar Processing......Page 177
6.1. Rapid Increase in the Number of Nectar Foragers via the Waggle Dance......Page 178
6.2. Increase in the Number of Bees Committed to Foraging via the Shaking Signal......Page 180
6.3. Rapid Increase in the Number of Nectar Processors via the Tremble Dance......Page 184
6.4. Which Bees Become Additional Food Storers?......Page 195
Summary......Page 196
7.1. Which Bees Build Comb?......Page 199
7.2. How Comb Builders Know When to Build Comb......Page 203
7.3. How the Quantity of Empty Comb Affects Nectar Foraging......Page 209
Summary......Page 213
8. Regulation of Pollen Collection......Page 215
8.1. The Inverse Relationship between Pollen Collection and the Pollen Reserve......Page 216
8.2. How Pollen Foragers Adjust Their Colony’s Rate of Pollen Collection......Page 217
8.3. How Pollen Foragers Receive Feedback from the Pollen Reserves......Page 220
8.4. The Mechanism of Indirect Feedback......Page 223
8.5. Why the Feedback Flows Indirectly......Page 226
8.6 How a Colony’s Foragers Are Allocated between Pollen and Nectar Collection......Page 229
Summary......Page 256
9. Regulation of Water Collection......Page 234
9.1. The Importance of Variable Demand......Page 235
9.2. Patterns of Water and Nectar Collection during Hive Overheating......Page 237
9.3. Which Bees Collect Water?......Page 240
9.4. What Stimulates Bees to Begin Collecting Water?......Page 242
9.5. What Tells Water Collectors to Continue or Stop Their Activity?......Page 243
9.6. Why Does a Water Collector’s Unloading Experience Change When Her Colony’s Need for Water Changes?......Page 248
Part III: Overview......Page 259
10. The Main Features of Colony Organization......Page 261
10.1. Division of Labor Based on Temporary Specializations......Page 262
10.2. Absence of Physical Connections between Workers......Page 266
10.3. Diverse Pathways of Information Flow......Page 269
10.4. High Economy of Communication......Page 274
10.5. Numerous Mechanisms of Negative Feedback......Page 277
10.6. Coordination without Central Planning......Page 280
11. Enduring Lessons from the Hive......Page 285
Glossary......Page 291
Bibliography......Page 299
Index......Page 313