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Acoustical and Behavioral Correlates of Profitability of Food Sources in Honey Bee Round Dances
Author(s) -
Waddington Keith D.,
Kirchner Wolfgang H.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
ethology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.739
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1439-0310
pISSN - 0179-1613
DOI - 10.1111/j.1439-0310.1992.tb00945.x
Subject(s) - dance , communication , honey bee , repetition (rhetorical device) , biology , forage , duration (music) , foraging , sound (geography) , acoustics , botany , psychology , ecology , physics , art , visual arts , linguistics , philosophy
The effects of the profitability of food sources on round dance behavior of honey bees ( Apis mellifera ) were studied by varying the concentration of sucrose solution imbibed at an artificial flower. The probability of dancing and the rate of reversals in the dance increased with concentration, as did several aspects of the dance sounds: mean carrier frequency, duration of the sound bursts, pulse repetition rate, number of sound bursts per dance, and amplitude. Significant variation among bees was detected in rate of reversals, but not for the other variables. The question of how bees communicate profitability in the round dance is discussed and further work is suggested.