Modeling and analysis of nest-site selection by honeybee swarms: the speed and accuracy trade-off (original) (raw)

Abstract

Nest-site selection in honeybees is a process of social decision making in which the scout bees in a swarm locate several potential nest sites, evaluate them, and select the best one by means of competitive signaling. We develop a model of this process and validate that the model possesses the key features of the bees' decision-making process, as revealed by prior empirical studies. Next, we use the model to study the “design” of the nest-site selection process, with a focus on how certain behavioral parameters have been tuned by natural selection to achieve a balance between speed and accuracy. First, we study the effects of the quorum threshold and the dance decay rate. We show that evolution seems to have settled on values for these two parameters that seek a balance between speed and accuracy of decision making by minimizing the time needed to achieve a consensus and maximizing the probability that the best site is chosen. Second, we study the adaptive tuning of the tendency of bees to explore for vs be recruited to a site. We show that this tendency appears to be tuned to regulate the positive feedback process of recruitment to ensure both a reasonably rapid choice and a low probability of a poor choice. Finally we show that the probability of choosing the best site is proportional to its quality, but that this proportionality depends on its quality relative to other discovered sites.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

• Starting from 10 chapters or articles per month
• Access and download chapters and articles from more than 300k books and 2,500 journals
• Cancel anytime View plans

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1

The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.

Fig. 2

The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.

Fig. 3

The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.

Fig. 4

The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.

Fig. 5

The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.

Fig. 6

The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.

Fig. 7

The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.

Fig. 8

The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.

Fig. 9

The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.

Fig. 10

The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.

Fig. 11

The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.

Fig. 12

The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

1. Often, in the literature such “explorers” are referred to as “scouts.” Here, we call all bees actively involved in the nest-site selection process “scouts,” as this is how they are often referred to in experimental studies. Consequently, nest-site scouts can explore, observe dances, rest, and be committed or uncommitted to a nest site.
2. We ran cases for N sim>100 but obtained the same qualitative results since by N sim=100, the averages we computed had converged. Standard deviations shown in subsequent plots are for the data from N sim=100 simulations in all cases.

References

• Bartholdi JJ, Seeley TD, Tovey CA, VandeVate JH (1993) The pattern and effectiveness of forager allocation among flower patches by honeybee colonies. J Theor Biol 160:23–40
  Article Google Scholar
• Beckers R, Deneubourg J-L, Goss S, Pasteels JM (1990) Collective decision making through food recruitment. Insectes Soc 37:258–367
  Article Google Scholar
• Beering ML (2001) A comparison of the patterns of the dance language behavior in house-hunting and nectar-foraging honeybees (Apis mellifera L.). M. Sc. thesis, University of California, Riverside
• Biesmeijer JC, de Vries H (2001) Exploration and exploitation of food sources by social insect colonies: a revision of the scout-recruit concept. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 49:89–99
  Article Google Scholar
• Britton NF, Franks NR, Pratt SC, Seeley TD (2002) Deciding on a new home: how do honeybees agree? Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 269:1383–1388
  Article CAS Google Scholar
• Camazine S (1991) Self-organizing pattern formation on the combs of honeybee colonies. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 28:61–76
  Article Google Scholar
• Camazine S, Sneyd J (1991) A model of collective nectar source selection by honeybees: self-organization through simple rules. J Theor Biol 149:547–571
  Article Google Scholar
• Camazine S, Sneyd J, Jenkins MJ, Murray JD (1990) A mathematical model of self-organizing pattern formation on the combs of honeybee colonies. J Theor Biol 147:553–571
  Article Google Scholar
• Camazine S, Visscher PK, Finley J, Vetter RS (1999) House-hunting by honeybee swarms: collective decisions and individual behaviors. Insectes Soc 46:348–360
  Article Google Scholar
• Camazine S, Deneubourg J-L, Franks NR, Sneyd J, Theraulaz G, Bonabeau E (2001) Self-organization in biological systems. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ
  Google Scholar
• Chittka L, Dyer AG, Bock F, Dornhaus A (2003) Bees trade-off foraging speed for accuracy. Nature 24:388
  Article CAS Google Scholar
• Cox M, Myerscough M (2003) A flexible model of foraging by a honeybee colony: the effects of individual behavior on foraging success. J Theor Biol 223:179–197
  Article PubMed Google Scholar
• de Vries H, Biesmeijer JC (1998) Modeling collective foraging by means of individual behavior rules in honey-bees. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 44:109–124
  Article Google Scholar
• Deneubourg J-L, Goss S (1989) Collective patterns and decision-making. Ethol Ecol Evol 1:295–311
  Article Google Scholar
• Dornhaus A, Franks NR (2003) Rules of decision-making: trade-offs in collective house-hunting. In: Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on the Mathematics and Algorithms of Social Insects. Atlanta, GA, pp 47–52
• Franks NR, Pratt SC, Mallon EB, Britton NF, Sumpter DJT (2002) Information flow, opinion polling, and collective intelligence in house-hunting social insects. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 357:1567–1583
  Article Google Scholar
• Franks NR, Dornhaus A, Fitzsimmons JP, Stevens M (2003) Speed versus accuracy in collective decision making. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 270:2457–2463
  Article Google Scholar
• Gilley DC (1998) The identity of nest-site scouts in honeybee swarms. Apidologie 29:229–240
  Article Google Scholar
• Jenkins M, Sneyd J, Camazine S, Murray JD (1992) On a simplified model for pattern formation in honeybee colonies. J Math Biol 30:281–306
  Article Google Scholar
• Lindauer M (1955) Schwarmbienen auf Wohnungssuche. Z Vgl Physiol 37:263–324
  Article Google Scholar
• Lindauer M (1961) Communication among social bees. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
  Google Scholar
• Mallon EB, Pratt SC, Franks NR (2001) Individual and collective decision-making during nest site selection by the ant Leptothorax albipennis. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 50:352–359
  Article Google Scholar
• Myerscough M (2003) Dancing for a decision: a matrix model for nest-site choice by honeybees. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 270:577–582
  Article Google Scholar
• Osman A, Lou LG, Muller-Gethman H, Rinkenauer G, Mattes S, Ulrich R (2000) Mechanisms of speed-accuracy trade-off: evidence from covert motor processes. Biol Psychol 51:173–199
  Article PubMed CAS Google Scholar
• Pratt SC, Mallon EB, Sumpter DJT, Franks NR (2002) Quorum sensing, recruitment, and collective decision-making during colony emigration by the ant Leptothorax albipennis. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 52:117–127
  Article Google Scholar
• Schmickl T, Crailsheim K (2003) Costs of environmental fluctuations and benefits of dynamic decentralized foraging decisions in honeybees. In: Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on the Mathematics and Algorithms of Social Insects. Atlanta, GA, pp 145–152
• Seeley TD (1982) How honeybees find a home. Sci Am 247:158–168
  Article Google Scholar
• Seeley TD (1983) Division of labor between scouts and recruits in honeybee foraging. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 12:253–259
  Article Google Scholar
• Seeley TD (1995) The wisdom of the hive. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
  Google Scholar
• Seeley TD (2003) Consensus building during nest-site selection in honeybee swarms: the expiration of dissent. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 53:417–424
  Google Scholar
• Seeley TD, Buhrman SC (1999) Group decision making in swarms of honeybees. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 45:19–31
  Article Google Scholar
• Seeley TD, Buhrman SC (2001) Nest-site selection in honeybees: how well do swarms implement the “best-of-n” decision rule? Behav Ecol Sociobiol 49:416–427
  Article Google Scholar
• Seeley TD, Tautz J (2001) Worker piping in honeybee swarms and its role in preparing for liftoff. J Comp Physiol 187:667–676
  Article CAS Google Scholar
• Seeley TD, Visscher PK (2003) Choosing a home: how the scouts in a honeybee swarm perceive the completion of their group decision making. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 54:511–520
  Article Google Scholar
• Seeley TD, Visscher PK (2004a) Group decision making in nest-site selection by honeybees. Apidologie 35:1–16
  Article Google Scholar
• Seeley TD, Visscher PK (2004b) Quorum sensing during nest-site selection by honeybee swarms. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 56:594–601
  Article Google Scholar
• Waite TA (2002) Interruptions improve choice performance in gray jays: prolonged information processing versus minimization of costly errors. Anim Cogn 5:209–214
  PubMed Google Scholar
• Waite TA, Field KL (2000) Erroneous choice and foregone gains in hoarding gray jays (Perisoreus candensis). Anim Cogn 3:127–134
  Article Google Scholar
• Winston ML (1987) The biology of the honeybee. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
  Google Scholar

Download references

Acknowledgements

The research reported here was supported by the US National Science Foundation (grant no. IBN02-10541 to T.D.S.). We would like to thank Alvaro Gil for checking the simulation code and for some suggestions on the document.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Ohio State University, 2015 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA
   Kevin M. Passino
2. Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA
   Thomas D. Seeley

Authors

1. Kevin M. Passino
2. Thomas D. Seeley

Corresponding author

Correspondence toKevin M. Passino.

Additional information

Communicated by R. Page

Rights and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Passino, K.M., Seeley, T.D. Modeling and analysis of nest-site selection by honeybee swarms: the speed and accuracy trade-off.Behav Ecol Sociobiol 59, 427–442 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-005-0067-y

Download citation

• Received: 03 November 2004
• Revised: 07 July 2005
• Accepted: 13 July 2005
• Published: 11 October 2005
• Issue date: January 2006
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-005-0067-y

Keywords