Self-Assembly Processes in Honeybees: The Phenomenon of Shimmering

Kastberger, Gerald; Weihmann, Frank; Hoetzl, Thomas

doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16422-4_18

Cited by 19 publications

(76 citation statements)

References 58 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…For the observer, the bee curtain of A. florea and A. dorsata colonies easily appears to be quiescent (Dyer and Seeley 1991;Kastberger et al 2011). However, our marking experiments clearly indicated that there is a frequent turnover of workers in the outermost layers (Figures 4).…”

Section: Daily Movement Patterns Of Individual Workersmentioning

confidence: 75%

“…Most, if not all, studies on open-nesting species state that the bee curtain is composed of several layers of bees connected in a mesh-like structure (Anderson et al 2002;Kastberger et al 2011). However, our observations of MFAs in A. florea suggest that the bee curtain may permanently consist of the two different structural units-the meshlike outermost layers and an inner core composed of chains of bees-or that the bees in the curtain can arrange themselves into these two collective structures depending on environmental conditions or behavioral context (see also Figure S2).…”

Section: Comments On the Organization Of The Bee Curtain In Apis Floreamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This bee curtain functions as a protective shield against unfavorable environmental conditions (e.g., rain, temperature) and predators (e.g., birds, wasps) (Dyer and Seeley 1991;Oldroyd and Wongsiri 2006). For instance, a number of different collective defensive movement patterns and sounds produced by the workers in the curtain have been reported (Kastberger et al 2011;Fuchs and Tautz 2011). In addition, a unique form of a short-lived Bmassed flight activity^(MFA) was observed in A. dorsata and A. laboriosa colonies, but the function of this behavior is still unclear (Batra 1996;Kastberger et al 1996;Woyke et al 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Structural and temporal dynamics of the bee curtain in the open-nesting honey bee species, Apis florea

2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

-Workers of open-nesting honey bee species form a bee curtain to cover the comb and protect it against adverse environmental conditions and predators. We studied different aspects of structural and temporal dynamics of the bee curtain in Apis florea . First, in the course of daily observations, we discovered massed flight activity (MFA) of A. florea colonies similar to that previously described for A. dorsata . The MFAs started with the opening of gaps in the curtain and appearance of chains of bees shortly before the massed take off. Second, monitoring the worker movement patterns in the outer layer indicated a constant turnover of bees in the curtain. Finally, introduction of marked 1-day-old workers showed that workers joined the curtain at a very young age. First flight activity appeared around day 20, but the majority of workers started to fly after day 47, which is twice the age at which A. mellifera workers start to forage.Apis florea / open-nesting / bee curtain / massed-flight activity

show abstract

Section: Daily Movement Patterns Of Individual Workersmentioning

confidence: 75%

Section: Comments On the Organization Of The Bee Curtain In Apis Floreamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Structural and temporal dynamics of the bee curtain in the open-nesting honey bee species, Apis florea

2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Examples of species that aggregate include vertebrates such as penguins [Waters et al, 2012] and bats [Kerth, 2008, Roverud andChappell, 1991] as well as insects such as beetles [Deneubourg et al, 1990], ants [Reynaert et al, 2006a and cockroaches [Ame et al, 2004, Jeanson et al, 2005. While these aggregations are often planar, eusocial insects such as honey bees [Kastberger et al, 2011, Seeley, 2010, army ants [Franks, 1989], and re ants [Mlot et al, 2011] extend this strategy and create three-dimensional assemblages. These self-assemblages are composed of a multitude of individuals who link their bodies, doing so without a global overseer and with limited cognitive abilities [Anderson et al, 2002].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attraction, Dynamics, and Phase Transitions in Fire Ant Tower-Building

Nave

Mitchell

Dick

et al. 2019

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Many insect species, and even some vertebrates, assemble their bodies to form multi-functional materials that combine sensing, computation, and actuation. The tower-building behavior of red imported re ants, Solenopsis invicta, presents a key example of this phenomenon of collective construction. While biological studies of collective construction focus on behavioral assays to measure the dynamics of formation and studies of swarm robotics focus on developing hardware that can assemble and interact, algorithms for designing such collective aggregations have been mostly overlooked. We address this gap by formulating an agent-based model for collective tower-building with a set of behavioral rules that incorporate local sensing of neighboring agents. We nd that an attractive force makes tower building possible. Next, we explore the trade-os between attraction and random motion to characterize the dynamics and phase transition of the tower building process. Lastly, we provide an optimization tool that may be used to design towers of specic shapes, mechanical loads, and dynamical properties such as mechanical stability and mobility of the center of mass. *

show abstract

“…In the 'mouth' zone of the bee curtain, bees arrive and depart and show dancing behaviour. With the exception of this region, curtain bees are quiescent (Kastberger et al 2010). The upper layer bees remain in a vertical position, with their heads up and connected to their neighbours by their legs (Butler 1962).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual Bee’s Experience on Its Bee Curtain During Three Dimensional Deflections Before, During and After Shimmering Wave

Waddoup

Singh

2013

Ecoprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Giant honeybees (Apis dorsata F.) build open nests far off the ground. As a consequence of their open nesting behaviour giant honeybees seem to be an easy target for predators, such as wasps or birds. However, they have evolved several strategies for defence. Shimmering waves are a defence behaviour, which keep predators far off, by showing visual cues. In the occurrence of shimmering, thousands of colony members, predominantly curtain bees, flip their abdomens in a fraction of a second up to 90 degrees in a rhythmic wave. This effect is comparable to human Mexican waves in the football stadiums. This study gives new insights about how individual bees experience during three dimensional deflections on its bee curtain, before during and after a shimmering wave and how they might decide to participate.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/eco.v18i0.9393Ecoprint An International Journal of EcologyVol. 18, 2011 Page: 8-15 Uploaded date: 12/20/2013

show abstract

Self-Assembly Processes in Honeybees: The Phenomenon of Shimmering

Cited by 19 publications

References 58 publications

Structural and temporal dynamics of the bee curtain in the open-nesting honey bee species, Apis florea

Structural and temporal dynamics of the bee curtain in the open-nesting honey bee species, Apis florea

Attraction, Dynamics, and Phase Transitions in Fire Ant Tower-Building

Individual Bee’s Experience on Its Bee Curtain During Three Dimensional Deflections Before, During and After Shimmering Wave

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About