BEEDANCEGAP

The dance is but one of several communication pathways within the honeybee hive. For example, bees also communicate with one another through trophallaxis- nectar donations- which provide information about the scent of rewarding resources. How important are the two different networks? Under what kind of circumstances does dancing become particularly valuable?

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Together with Dr Will Hoppitt, over the past year we have been developing and implementing Network-Based Diffusion Analysis (NBDA) models that can answer these questions. We train marked bees to feeders under varying ecological conditions, and recond each subsequent interaction within the hive with recruits. NBDA is a social network-based modelling technique that assumes that if information is being transmitted socially (e.g. through dances), the order at which individuals aquire the information will follow the connections of a social network.