Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
behavior of the model network was similar to the global behavior of
insect societies (Figure 2.4), but this is still just a computer model. How
does it map onto a real colony of honey bees?
In Section 2.1, I presented a model of how a pollen-foraging honey
bee might be able to get information about the pollen need of a colony
by walking along the edge of a comb where the uncapped larvae border
the stored pollen. I suggested that thresholds of response to empty cells
or cells i lled with pollen that a forager encountered could determine
whether she would return for another load of pollen. h at case is similar
to the model presented here. Foragers get indirect information about the
behavioral states of others by sampling the database of the pollen forag-
ers, the stored pollen. Stored pollen is a stimulus that inhibits pollen
foraging. Consumption of pollen by nurse bees decreases the inhibitory
stimulus. h e result of the network of foragers is the maintenance of
pollen stores at or above some level determined by the collective re-
sponse thresholds of the foragers. Foragers, however, cannot and do not
get complete information about the quantities of stored pollen, so
K
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Instead, they take a subsample as they walk the comb and then decide
whether to perform a recruitment dance and return to the i eld.
2.3 Case Studies
h e simple result of these models is that division of labor is an emer-
gent property of group living. It is inescapable. Behavior is based on
responses to stimuli. Individuals dif er in their thresholds of response
and the probability that they will encounter the stimulus, and as a con-
sequence of their response, they alter the stimulus and thereby af ect
the response probabilities of others in the group. Is there any evidence
for this view other than what we found with our computer simulations?
To test this hypothesis, one must force social conditions on otherwise
nonsocial individuals or generate conditions in a social species that are
not normally found and observe the responses. I present two case stud-
ies here.
