Shape and Dynamics of Thermoregulating Honey Bee Clusters

Sumpter, David J. T.; Broomhead, D. S.

doi:10.1006/jtbi.1999.1063

Cited by 40 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…When outdoor temperatures drop seasonally, honey bees naturally undergo cluster formation to conserve heat and sustain hive activity [23]. As such, honey bees have the unusual ability among insects to sustain a temperature-controlled environment during winter.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sepsis and Hemocyte Loss in Honey Bees (Apis mellifera) Infected with Serratia marcescens Strain Sicaria

et al. 2016

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Global loss of honey bee colonies is threatening the human food supply. Diverse pathogens reduce honey bee hardiness needed to sustain colonies, especially in winter. We isolated a free-living Gram negative bacillus from hemolymph of worker honey bees (Apis mellifera) found separated from winter clusters. In some hives, greater than 90% of the dying bees detached from the winter cluster were found to contain this bacterium in their hemolymph. Throughout the year, the same organism was rarely found in bees engaged in normal hive activities, but was detected in about half of Varroa destructor mites obtained from colonies that housed the septic bees. Flow cytometry of hemolymph from septic bees showed a significant reduction of plasmatocytes and other types of hemocytes. Interpretation of the16S rRNA sequence of the bacterium indicated that it belongs to the Serratia genus of Gram-negative Gammaproteobacteria, which has not previously been implicated as a pathogen of adult honey bees. Complete genome sequence analysis of the bacterium supported its classification as a novel strain of Serratia marcescens, which was designated as S. marcescens strain sicaria (Ss1). When compared with other strains of S. marcescens, Ss1 demonstrated several phenotypic and genetic differences, including 65 genes not previously found in other Serratia genomes. Some of the unique genes we identified in Ss1 were related to those from bacterial insect pathogens and commensals. Recovery of this organism extends a complex pathosphere of agents which may contribute to failure of honey bee colonies.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sepsis and Hemocyte Loss in Honey Bees (Apis mellifera) Infected with Serratia marcescens Strain Sicaria

et al. 2016

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“…Aggregation behaviors of insects, as an example of simple natural swarm behavior, were frequently a subject of empirical research. Aggregation processes were investigated in several species, for example: bark beetles [6], ants [7,8], cockroaches [7,[9][10][11][12], and honeybees [13,14]. Some of these insects navigate by exploiting a gradient of odor [7], a gradient of population density [15], or by exploiting agent-agent encounters and a temperature gradient [14,16].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of emergent symmetry breaking in collective decision making

Hamann

Schmickl

Wörn

2010

Neural Comput & Applic

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We investigate a simulated multi-agent system (MAS) that collectively decides to aggregate at an area of high utility. The agents' control algorithm is based on random agent-agent encounters and is inspired by the aggregation behavior of honeybees. In this article, we define symmetry breaking, several symmetry breaking measures, and report the phenomenon of emergent symmetry breaking within our observed system. The ability of the MAS to successfully break the symmetry depends significantly on a local-neighborhood-based threshold of the agents' control algorithm that determines at which number of neighbors the agents stop. This dependency is analyzed and two macroscopic features are determined that significantly influence the symmetry breaking behavior. In addition, we investigate the connection between the ability of the MAS to break symmetries and the ability to stay flexible in a dynamic environment.

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“…Later, we will also incorporate these robots' sensing capabilities and their autonomous agency into the model. Similar representations of animal behaviors have been used in [24] to model older honeybees in self-organized temperature clusters. In contrast to our work, which models young honeybees, the model of [24] was focused on a full-hive context and on older bees that produce heat by themselves.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similar representations of animal behaviors have been used in [24] to model older honeybees in self-organized temperature clusters. In contrast to our work, which models young honeybees, the model of [24] was focused on a full-hive context and on older bees that produce heat by themselves. Thus it was more complex, for example, a diffusion-andinsulation model of heat flows was included there.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A cellular model of swarm intelligence in bees and robots

Szopek¹,

Stefanec²,

Bodi³

et al. 2017

Proceedings of the 10th EAI International Conference on Bio-Inspired Information and Communications Technologies (Formerly BION

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We present here a simple cellular model of random motion and social interaction of young honeybees making swarm intelligent decisions in complex dynamic temperature fields. We model also behaviors of stationary robots that affect those bees. Our study looks for a first as-simple-as-possible approach towards modeling such a bio-hybrid system. Our model predicts observed collective behaviors qualitatively very well by modeling a correlated random walk and a simple social interaction mechanism. We found that even a very simple 2-dimensional cellular model with a limited state space of 16 bit per cell suffices. Ultimately, the simplicity of the model allows fast and distributed computation. This will allow us to search for interesting swarm intelligent robotic algorithms for creating novel bio-hybrid systems composed by real animals and autonomous rule-driven cellular robots by using stochastic optimization techniques.

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Shape and Dynamics of Thermoregulating Honey Bee Clusters

Cited by 40 publications

References 12 publications

Sepsis and Hemocyte Loss in Honey Bees (Apis mellifera) Infected with Serratia marcescens Strain Sicaria

Sepsis and Hemocyte Loss in Honey Bees (Apis mellifera) Infected with Serratia marcescens Strain Sicaria

Analysis of emergent symmetry breaking in collective decision making

A cellular model of swarm intelligence in bees and robots

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