Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/18267
Title: | Honeybee linguistics: a comparative analysis of the waggle dance among species of 'Apis' | Contributor(s): | Beekman, Madeleine (author); Makinson, James C (author); Couvillon, Margaret J (author); Preece, Kaitlyn (author); Schaerf, Timothy (author)![]() |
Publication Date: | 2015 | Open Access: | Yes | DOI: | 10.3389/fevo.2015.00011![]() |
Handle Link: | https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/18267 | Abstract: | All honey bees use the waggle dance to recruit nestmates. Studies on the dance precision of 'Apis mellifera' have shown that the dance is often imprecise. Two hypotheses have been put forward aimed at explaining this imprecision. The first argues that imprecision in the context of foraging is adaptive as it ensures that the dance advertises the same patch size irrespective of distance. The second argues that the bees are constrained in their ability to be more precise, especially when the source is nearby. Recent studies have found support for the latter hypothesis but not for the "tuned-error" hypothesis, as the adaptive hypothesis became known. Here we investigate intra-dance variation among 'Apis' species. We analyse the dance precision of 'A. florea', 'A. dorsata', and 'A. mellifera' in the context of foraging and swarming. 'A. mellifera' performs forage dances in the dark, using gravity as point of reference, and in the light when dancing for nest sites, using the sun as point of reference. Both 'A. dorsata' and 'A. florea' are open-nesting species; they do not use a different point of reference depending on context. 'A. florea' differs from both 'A. mellifera' and 'A. dorsata' in that it dances on a horizontal surface and does not use gravity but instead "points" directly toward the goal when indicating direction. Previous work on 'A. mellifera' has suggested that differences in dance orientation and point of reference can affect dance precision. We find that all three species improve dance precision with increasing waggle phase duration, irrespective of differences in dance orientation,and point of reference. When dancing for sources nearby, dances are highly variable.When the distance increases, dance precision converges. The exception is dances performed by 'A. mellifera' on swarms. Here, dance precision decreases as the distance increases. We also show that the size of the patch advertised increases with increasing distance, contrary to what is predicted under the tuned-error hypothesis. | Publication Type: | Journal Article | Grant Details: | ARC/DP130101670 ARC/FT120100120 |
Source of Publication: | Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, v.3, p. 1-11 | Publisher: | Frontiers Research Foundation | Place of Publication: | Switzerland | ISSN: | 2296-701X | Fields of Research (FoR) 2008: | 060801 Animal Behaviour 010202 Biological Mathematics 060201 Behavioural Ecology |
Fields of Research (FoR) 2020: | 310901 Animal behaviour 490102 Biological mathematics 310301 Behavioural ecology |
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2008: | 970101 Expanding Knowledge in the Mathematical Sciences 970106 Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences |
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020: | 280102 Expanding knowledge in the biological sciences 280118 Expanding knowledge in the mathematical sciences |
Peer Reviewed: | Yes | HERDC Category Description: | C1 Refereed Article in a Scholarly Journal |
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Appears in Collections: | Journal Article |
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