Humans aren’t the only ones who vote in important elections. A successful honeybee hive can contain tens of thousands of bees and may eventually become overcrowded due to limited space. When this happens, the colony splits in two and one group of bees leaves the hive in a swarm, clustering together outside until the group can find a new place to live. How do thousands of bees agree on a new location for a hive? The decision is important, because once agreed upon, the new colony will invest all of its energy into making the new location a success.
To find a location for a new hive, “scout” bees investigate possible sites. Then each scout returns to the swarm and communicates how promising the site it visited is by performing a “waggle dance.” In a waggle dance, a bee shakes or vibrates while walking forward in a wave pattern, then circles back and repeats the process. The faster a bee vibrates, the more promising it thinks the site it explored is. At the same time, the orientation of the bee’s movements conveys the newly proposed hive’s direction, and the time or linear distance over which the bee waggles in each cycle conveys the distance to the new hive. Based upon the relative vigor of each bee’s dance, other scouts locate and assess the more strongly recommended locations.
As soon as the number of bees at any given potential site reaches about 15, this group returns to the swarm, spreading through it to signal a final decision to relocate to that site. As a result, the swarm follows and sets up its hive in this chosen location.
Studying how honeybees and other species make decisions could provide insights into how humans could make better group decisions too.
Edit Summary
Amazing photography to show their industrious and very active lives!
Are their any swarm species that remain constrained in their environment and continue to thrive en equilibrium without needing to split and move on?
@Diana Thomas
the swarm will leave the hive around noon and they will have found a new home before sunset.
This is also the reason a beekeeper only enters a hive after noon, just to precvent a swarm is created because of the beekeeper
[quote]ratshah63
about 1 year ago
Is there only 1 queen bee to a hive? If this is so how does the queen bees moving to another hive affect the first hive?
From what I understand when the hive splits but temporarily clusters on a tree branch not too far from the original hive. How is this temporary place selected?[/quote]
dear Ratshah. normally there is only one queen in the hive. If they decide to move the queen and workers prepare 3-8 new queens. If the first larve is capped the queen leaves with have the hive population to a new home.
after 7 days the first new queens uncaps her cocoon and present herself to the workers. she makes a noise with het wings and legs. Other queens who aren't ready yet to leave the cocoon try to answer and the sound is different but everybody knows the're more queens.
If the draft is good and the population is big enough she will also leave at noon with again half the poplation of the hive( virgin swarm). This continues untill splitting is no further possible without the risk of getting a to small poplationto survive.
if the risk is too high, the not born queens will be destroyed by the workers.
Everythig is based on surviving and growing to keep the species alive.
I'm working on setting up a human society based on the systems used in nature by ants and bees and others. I believe such a system will quickly create vastly superior technology and quickly solve all currently known problems of mankind. I believe it will out compete current society. It has the potential to end poverty and bring about World Peace.
You can find out more about it at my websites:
http://teamworldpeace.org
http://conceivia.com
http://gaia-god.com
My comment above – the limiting factor is that their distribution still grows and moves. We have already survived and grown by such mechanisms – splitting and migrating. But we’ve reached the environmental limits. We must learn to remain and function sufficiently also.
It looks like bees have a nice strategy of relocating. It would be so nice to see this whole thing happening in front of you! Can anybody tell how much time is needed to complete this whole process of selecting new hive? After the hive is split how is the selection of new queen is done? I found many answers related to bees from this site.
http://www.comvita.com.au/ingredients/about-manukahoney.html
Is there only 1 queen bee to a hive? If this is so how does the queen bees moving to another hive affect the first hive?
From what I understand when the hive splits but temporarily clusters on a tree branch not too far from the original hive. How is this temporary place selected?
New research finds a "stop" signal to warn nest mates of feeding sites where a foraging bee was attacked: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-02/uoc–bd021010.php
Economist story on how bees avoid groupthink and how this could be applied to politics.
http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13097814