The Wisdom of the Hive

Contents Preface Part I: Introduction 1.1. The Evolution of Biological Organization 1.2. The Honey Bee Colony as a Unit of Function 1.3. Analytic Scheme 2. The Honey Bee Colony 2.1. Worker Anatomy and Physiology 2.2. Worker Life History 2.3. Nest Architecture 2.4. The Annual Cycle of a Colony 2.5. Communication about Food Sources 2.6. Food Collection and Honey Production 3. The Foraging Abilities of a Colony 3.1. Exploiting Food Sources over a Vast Region around the Hive 3.2. Surveying the Countryside for Rich Food Sources 3.3. Responding Quickly to Valuable Discoveries 3.4. Choosing among Food Sources 3.5. Adjusting Selectivity in Relation to Forage Abundance 3.6. Regulating Comb Construction 3.7. Regulating Pollen Collection 3.8. Regulating Water Collection Summary Part II: Experimental Analysis 4.1. The Observation Hive 4.2. The Hut for the Observation Hive 4.3. The Bees 4.4. Sugar Water Feeders 4.5. Labeling Bees 4.8. Recording the Behavior of Bees in the Hive 4.9. The Scale Hive 4.10. Censusing a Colony 5. Allocation of Labor among Forage Sites 5.1. Which Bees Gather the Information? 5.3. Where Information Is Shared inside the Hive 5.4. The Coding of Information about Profitability 5.5. The Bees' Criterion of Profitability 5.6. The Relationship between Nectar-Source Profitability and Waggle Dance Duration 5.7. The Adaptive Tuning of Dance Thresholds 5.8. How a Forager Determines the Profitability of a Nectar Source Summary 5.9. Employed Foragers versus Unemployed Foragers 5.10. How Unemployed Foragers Read the Information on the Dance Floor 5.11. How Employed Foragers Respond to Information about Food-Source Profitability 5.12. The Correct Distribution of Foragers among Nectar Sources 5.13. Cross Inhibition between Forager Groups 5.14. The Pattern and Effectiveness of Forager Allocation among Nectar Sources Summary 6. Coordination of Nectar Collecting and Nectar Processing 6.1. Rapid Increase in the Number of Nectar Foragers via the Waggle Dance 6.2. Increase in the Number of Bees Committed to Foraging via the Shaking Signal 6.3. Rapid Increase in the Number of Nectar Processors via the Tremble Dance 6.4. Which Bees Become Additional Food Storers? Summary 7.1. Which Bees Build Comb? 7.2. How Comb Builders Know When to Build Comb 7.3. How the Quantity of Empty Comb Affects Nectar Foraging Summary 8. Regulation of Pollen Collection 8.1. The Inverse Relationship between Pollen Collection and the Pollen Reserve 8.2. How Pollen Foragers Adjust Their Colony's Rate of Pollen Collection 8.3. How Pollen Foragers Receive Feedback from the Pollen Reserves 8.4. The Mechanism of Indirect Feedback 201 8.5. Why the Feedback Flows Indirectly 8.6 How a Colony's Foragers Are Allocated between Pollen and Nectar Collection 9. Regulation of Water Collection 9.1. The Importance of Variable Demand 9.2. Patterns of Water and Nectar Collection during Hive Overheating 9.3. Which Bees Collect Water? 9.4. What Stimulates Bees to Begin Collecting Water? 9.5. What Tells Water Collectors to Continue or Stop Their Activity? 9.6. Why Does a Water Collector's Unloading Experience Change When Her Colony's Need for Water Changes? Summary Part III: Overview 10. The Main Features of Colony Organization 10.1. Division of Labor Based on Temporary Specializations 10.2. Absence of Physical Connections between Workers 10.3. Diverse Pathways of Information Flow 10.4. High Economy of Communication 10.5. Numerous Mechanisms of Negative Feedback 10.6. Coordination without Central Planning 11. Enduring Lessons from the Hive Glossary Bibliography Index