Deciding on a new home: how do honeybees agree?
A swarm of honeybees (Apis mellifera) is capable of selecting one nest-site when faced with a choice of several. We adapt classical mathematical models of disease, information and competing beliefs to such decision-making processes. We show that the collective decision may be arrived at without the necessity for any bee to make any comparison between sites.
Britton
N F
NF
Centre for Mathematical Biology, and Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK. n.f.britton@bath.ac.uk
Franks
N R
NR
Pratt
S C
SC
Seeley
T D
TD
D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000502:physiology*; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D008954:Models, Biological; D009425:Nesting Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D012919:Social Behavior; D013997:Time Factors