Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Navigation and Communication in Honey Bees

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Honeybee Neurobiology and Behavior

Abstract

Honey bees navigate and communicate in the context of foraging and nest selection. A novel technique (harmonic radar tracking) has been applied to foraging behavior. On the basis of the data collected, a concept that assumes an integrated map-like structure of spatial memory was developed. Characteristic features (long ranging landmarks) and local characteristics are learned during exploratory flights. Route flights and information about target destinations transferred during the waggle dance are integrated into the map-like memory, enabling bees to make decisions about their flight routes. Cognitive terminology is applied to describe these implicit knowledge properties in bee navigation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 189.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 249.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 249.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Abbreviations

FD:

Dance indicated food site

FT:

Trained food site

References

  1. Abbott KR, Dukas R (2009) Honeybees consider flower danger in their waggle dance. Anim Behav 78(3):633–635

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Capaldi EA, Dyer FC (1999) The role of orientation flights on homing performance in honeybees. J Exp Biol 202(Pt 12):1655–1666

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Capaldi EA, Smith AD, Osborne JL, Fahrbach SE, Farris SM et al (2000) Ontogeny of orientation flight in the honeybee revealed by harmonic radar. Nature 403(6769):537–540

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Chittka L, Geiger K (1995) Can honeybees count landmarks? Anim Behav 49:159–164

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Collett TS, Graham P (2004) Animal navigation: path integration, visual landmarks and cognitive maps. Curr Biol 14(12):R475–R477

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. De Marco R, Menzel R (2005) Encoding spatial information in the waggle dance. J Exp Biol 208(Pt 20):3885–3894

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. De Marco RJ (2006) How bees tune their dancing according to their colony’s nectar influx: re-examining the role of the food-receivers’ ‘eagerness’. J Exp Biol 209:421–432

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. De Marco RJ, Farina WM (2001) Changes in food source profitability affect the trophallactic and dance behavior of forager honeybees (Apis mellifera L.). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 50(5):441–449

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. De Marco RJ, Gil M, Farina WM (2005) Does an increase in reward affect the precision of the encoding of directional information in the honeybee waggle dance? J Comp Physiol A 191(5):413–419

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Dyer FC (1991) Bees acquire route-based memories but not cognitive maps in a familiar landscape. Anim Behav 41:239–246

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Dyer FC (1998) Spatial cognition: lessons from central-place foraging insects. In: Balda R, Pepperburg I, Kamil A (eds) Animal cognition in nature. Academic Press, London, pp 119–154

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  12. Dyer FC, Gould JL (1981) Honey bee orientation: a backup system for cloudy days. Science 214(4524):1041–1042

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Esch H, Burns J (1996) Distance estimation by foraging honeybees. J Exp Biol 199(Pt 1):155–162

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Farina WM, Grüter C, Acosta L, Mc Cabe S (2007) Honeybees learn floral odors while receiving nectar from foragers within the hive. Naturwissenschaften 94(1):55–60

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Gould JL (1986) The local map of honey bees: do insects have cognitive maps? Science 232:861–863

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Grüter C, Farina WM (2009) The honeybee waggle dance: can we follow the steps? Trends Ecol Evol 24(5):242–247

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Jacobs LF, Schenk F (2003) Unpacking the cognitive map: the parallel map theory of hippocampal function. Psychol Rev 110(2):285–315

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Land BB, Seeley TD (2004) The grooming invitation dance of the honey bee. Ethology 110(1):1–10

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Lindauer M (1949) Über die Einwirkung von Duft- und Geschmacksstoffen sowie anderer Faktoren auf die Tanze der Bienen. Z vergl Physiol 31(3):348–412

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Lindauer M (1954) Dauertänze im Bienenstock und ihre Beziehung zur Sonnenbahn. Naturwissenschaften 41(21):506–507

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Menzel R, Brandt R, Gumbert A, Komischke B, Kunze J (2000) Two spatial memories for honeybee navigation. Proc R Soc B 267(1447):961–968

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Menzel R, Chittka L, Eichmüller S, Geiger K, Peitsch D et al (1990) Dominance of celestial cues over landmarks disproves map-like orientation in honey bees. Z Naturforsch C 45(6):723–726

    Google Scholar 

  23. Menzel R, Fuchs J, Nadler L, Weiss B, Kumbischinski N et al (2010) Dominance of the odometer over serial landmark learning in honeybee navigation. Naturwissenschaften 97(8):763–767

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Menzel R, Geiger K, Chittka L, Joerges J, Kunze J et al (1996) The knowledge base of bee navigation. J Exp Biol 199(1):141–146

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Menzel R, Giurfa M (2001) Cognitive architecture of a mini-brain: the honeybee. Trends Cogn Sci 5(2):62–71

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Menzel R, Greggers U, Smith A, Berger S, Brandt R et al (2005) Honey bees navigate according to a map-like spatial memory. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 102(8):3040–3045

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Núñez JA (1970) The relationship between sugar flow and foraging and recruiting behaviour of honey bees (Apis mellifera L.). Anim Behav 18:527–538

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Otto F (1959) Die Bedeutung des Rückfluges für die Richtungs- und Entfernungsangabe der Bienen. Z vergl Physiol 42(4):303–333

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Riley JR, Smith AD, Reynolds DR, Edwards AS, Osborne JL et al (1996) Tracking bees with harmonic radar. Nature 379(6560):29–30

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Seeley TD (1986) Social foraging by honeybees – how colonies allocate foragers among patches of flowers. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 19(5):343–354

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Seeley TD (1992) The tremble dance of the honey bee – message and meanings. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 31(6):375–383

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Seeley TD (1995) The wisdom of the hive: the social physiology of honey bee colonies. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  33. Seeley TD, Buhrman SC (2001) Nest-site selection in honey bees: how well do swarms implement the “best-of-N” decision rule? Behav Ecol Sociobiol 49(5):416–427

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Seeley TD, Mikheyev AS, Pagano GJ (2000) Dancing bees tune both duration and rate of waggle-run production in relation to nectar-source profitability. J Comp Physiol A 186(9):813–819

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. Seeley TD, Weidenmüller A, Kuhnholz S (1998) The shaking signal of the honey bee informs workers to prepare for greater activity. Ethology 104(1):10–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Shafir S, Barron AB (2010) Optic flow informs distance but not profitability for honeybees. Proc R Soc B 277(1685):1241–1245

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Srinivasan MV, Zhang S (2004) Visual motor computations in insects. Annu Rev Neurosci 27:679–696

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  38. Srinivasan MV, Zhang S, Altwein M, Tautz J (2000) Honeybee navigation: nature and calibration of the “odometer”. Science 287(5454):851–853

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  39. Tautz J, Zhang S, Spaethe J, Brockmann A, Si A et al (2004) Honeybee odometry: performance in varying natural terrain. PLoS Biol 2(7):e211

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  40. Tolman EC (1948) Cognitive maps in rats and men. Psychol Rev 55(4):189–208

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  41. von Frisch K (1923) Über die Sprache der Bienen, eine tierphysiologische Untersuchung. Zool Jb (Physiol) 40:1–186

    Google Scholar 

  42. von Frisch K (1965) Tanzsprache und Orientierung der Bienen. Springer, Heidelberg

    Google Scholar 

  43. von Frisch K, Lindauer M (1954) Himmel und Erde in Konkurrenz bei der Orientierung der Bienen. Naturwissenschaften 41:245–253

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Wehner R (1992) Arthropods. In: Papi F (ed) Animal homing. Chapman & Hall, London, pp 45–144

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  45. Wehner R, Menzel R (1990) Do insects have cognitive maps? Annu Rev Neurosci 13:403–414

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Biologie, Neurobiologie, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Randolf Menzel, Jacqueline Fuchs, Andreas Kirbach, Konstantin Lehmann & Uwe Greggers

Authors
  1. Randolf Menzel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jacqueline Fuchs
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Andreas Kirbach
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Konstantin Lehmann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Uwe Greggers
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Randolf Menzel .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Department of Neurobiology, Universität Konstanz, Universitätsstrasse 10, Konstanz, 78457, Germany

    C. Giovanni Galizia

  2. , Department of Neurobiology, Freie Universität Berlin, Königin-Luise-Str. 28-30, Berlin, 14195, Germany

    Dorothea Eisenhardt

  3. , Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition An, CNRS - Université Paul Sabatier, Route de Narbonne 118, Toulouse Cedex 9, 31062, France

    Martin Giurfa

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Menzel, R., Fuchs, J., Kirbach, A., Lehmann, K., Greggers, U. (2012). Navigation and Communication in Honey Bees. In: Galizia, C., Eisenhardt, D., Giurfa, M. (eds) Honeybee Neurobiology and Behavior. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2099-2_9

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation