Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
act of defense—stinging) behavior of honey bees. Muscles deteriorate, body hairs are
pulled out, and wing edges become frayed as the forager's body ages. Too tired or slow
to make the flight back to the hive or to escape a predator's attack, her short, purposeful
life ends.
Communication
Something we don't often think about is that, with the exception of a very small area
near the front door, the entirety of the hive's interior is pitch black. There are no win-
dows or skylights, and any small cracks are sealed with propolis. Everything that goes
on inside is done by touch, feel, and smell. Bees don't see each other inside, nor do they
see the cells to clean, the larvae to feed, the dead to remove, or the honey to eat. Yet,
when foragers are out in our world they navigate by light and sight, by color and loca-
tion.
Therefore, the returning foragers must translate their visual experiences in the out-
side world to their nest mates using non-visual methods. When a forager discovers a
new flower patch and has tested the quantity (to some degree) and the quality of its har-
vest, she returns to the nest to advertise its location and potential.
When she returns to the hive she goes to an area in the brood-nest close to the main
entrance. There, foragers not yet foraging or those that finished earlier congregate. Also
there are those bees who take nectar from incoming bees, other foragers who have re-
turned and are being unloaded, as well as those very young bees that are cleaning cells
and caring for the young.
To advertise the patch, the returning bee begins the famous waggle dance, which in-
dicates with some—though not exact—precision the location of the source of her har-
vest. The information includes the distance (measured in expended energy during the
trip home) and direction (where the sun is in relation to the colony and the patch). The
value of her find is communicated to others by the intensity and duration of her dance.
Unemployed foragers will come close to taste and smell the nectar, and some (unem-
ployed foragers) will follow her dance through several performances and eventually
leave the hive in search of the source. Remember, though, there are many, many for-
agers recruiting simultaneously on this dance floor, but unemployed foragers do not
sample each dance. Rather, they pick one and follow. They don't follow several, evalu-
ating and comparing the differences.
The accuracy of the dance in pointing additional foragers to the patch is fairly reli-
able but not infallible. Factors such as obstacles (tall buildings) and head or tail winds
enter into the equation as well. But outgoing foragers also have the scent of the floral
source to help guide them, and a downwind approach can assist in locating the patch.
Even so, many recruits leave the dance floor to find this floral patch, only to return in a
short time to try again. They didn't get all the instructions, it seems. Those that find the
