Abstract
It is well established mat honeybees inform their nestmates of the location of flowers they have visited by a unique behavior called a "waggle dance". To evaluate the efficacy of this dance in terms of food collection, we constructed a Markov model for foraging behavior. The computer simulation showed that our model faithfully expressed actual bee behavior; revealed that a colony in which honeybees danced and correctly transferred information made 2.15 times more successful visits to food sources compared to a colony with non-accurate information transfer; and suggested that the waggle dance is effective only under particular conditions.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1115-1130 |
Number of pages | 16 |
Journal | Information |
Volume | 13 |
Issue number | 3 B |
Publication status | Published - 2010 May 1 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Information transfer
- Insect
- Markov model
- Social behavior
- Waggle dance
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Information Systems