brood pheromones can modulate behavioral maturation in worker bees: a low level
decreases the adult bee foraging age, promoting a larger proportion of worker bees to
become foragers; a high level of brood pheromone increases worker foraging age,
stimulating young adult workers to remain as nurse bees for an extended period of
time [14].
Worker honey bee pheromones cover a wide range of functions. Depending on
the age and role differentiation of the worker bee, glands develop at different times
or produce different pheromones depending on the situation. For example, wax
glands develop sooner and are more active in young worker bees for building
comb, while alarm pheromone production rises in older guard and forager bees.
The glands responsible for producing pheromone that suppresses worker bee fertility
also produce alarm pheromone when the worker bee becomes a forager [15].
Honey Bee Dances
All of the known species and subspecies of honey bee exhibit dancing behavior, but
the form and details of execution vary among species [16].
The following describes Apis mellifera, as it is in the most widely managed honey
bee species. There are several known honey bee dances, including the waggle dance,
round dance, tremble dance, and grooming dance. Each dance conveys information,
but the use of said information may be context-dependent [17].
The waggle and round dances are used by forager bees to communicate foraging
locations. The round dance is performed by a returning scout or forager when it
wishes to communicate a food source less than about 35 yards away from the hive;
the bee will move in circles alternately to the left and right, without indicating
specific direction, but it will share the scent of the food source [18].
When a resource is more than 35 yards away, the honey bee will perform the
waggle dance instead; this resource may be food, water, or even a new nest site. This
is a more complex dance that communicates direction relative to the hive, distance,
and odor of the target resource if applicable [19, 20].
The waggle dance is usually performed on the vertical surface of the hive comb.
The dancing bee first moves forward for a certain distance along the vertical line of
the comb, and this vertical line serves as the reference base for the direction. Then
the bee moves back to the starting point and begins her dance pattern. Each dance
involves running through a figure-eight pattern with one straight phase and two half
circle return phases; the dance move pattern is then repeated. On the straight stretch
phase, the bee “waggles.” The angle between the straight stretch and the vertical line
is the angle of the target sources relative to the sun. If experiencing a long delay and
the sun has moved, the dancing bee adjusts the angle accordingly. The distance to the
target resource is expressed by the duration of the straight waggle phase. One second
is approximately for 1 km of distance. The time taken to complete the waggle phase
is directly related to the distance, and the speed of the waggle is inversely related to
the actual distance [19].
10
C. Li
decreases the adult bee foraging age, promoting a larger proportion of worker bees to
become foragers; a high level of brood pheromone increases worker foraging age,
stimulating young adult workers to remain as nurse bees for an extended period of
time [14].
Worker honey bee pheromones cover a wide range of functions. Depending on
the age and role differentiation of the worker bee, glands develop at different times
or produce different pheromones depending on the situation. For example, wax
glands develop sooner and are more active in young worker bees for building
comb, while alarm pheromone production rises in older guard and forager bees.
The glands responsible for producing pheromone that suppresses worker bee fertility
also produce alarm pheromone when the worker bee becomes a forager [15].
Honey Bee Dances
All of the known species and subspecies of honey bee exhibit dancing behavior, but
the form and details of execution vary among species [16].
The following describes Apis mellifera, as it is in the most widely managed honey
bee species. There are several known honey bee dances, including the waggle dance,
round dance, tremble dance, and grooming dance. Each dance conveys information,
but the use of said information may be context-dependent [17].
The waggle and round dances are used by forager bees to communicate foraging
locations. The round dance is performed by a returning scout or forager when it
wishes to communicate a food source less than about 35 yards away from the hive;
the bee will move in circles alternately to the left and right, without indicating
specific direction, but it will share the scent of the food source [18].
When a resource is more than 35 yards away, the honey bee will perform the
waggle dance instead; this resource may be food, water, or even a new nest site. This
is a more complex dance that communicates direction relative to the hive, distance,
and odor of the target resource if applicable [19, 20].
The waggle dance is usually performed on the vertical surface of the hive comb.
The dancing bee first moves forward for a certain distance along the vertical line of
the comb, and this vertical line serves as the reference base for the direction. Then
the bee moves back to the starting point and begins her dance pattern. Each dance
involves running through a figure-eight pattern with one straight phase and two half
circle return phases; the dance move pattern is then repeated. On the straight stretch
phase, the bee “waggles.” The angle between the straight stretch and the vertical line
is the angle of the target sources relative to the sun. If experiencing a long delay and
the sun has moved, the dancing bee adjusts the angle accordingly. The distance to the
target resource is expressed by the duration of the straight waggle phase. One second
is approximately for 1 km of distance. The time taken to complete the waggle phase
is directly related to the distance, and the speed of the waggle is inversely related to
the actual distance [19].
10
C. Li