Phase transitions and bistability in honeybee foraging dynamics.
Many physical and biological systems display phase transitions, where a slight change in a parameter greatly changes the behavior of the system; and bistability, where for a certain range of this parameter either of two phases can be obtained, depending on initial conditions. We suggest the presence of these phenomena in a model of foraging honeybees. The eventual number of foragers depends in a complex way on the bee concentration and on the scouting rate. The results hold relevance for other multi-agent systems with potential jumps in system behavior or efficiency, depending on agent concentration.
Loengarov
Andreas
A
School of Computing, University of Paisley, Paisley PA1 2BE, Scotland. Andreas.Loengarov@uws.ac.uk
Tereshko
Valery
V
D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000502:physiology*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D008954:Models, Biological