Quorum Determines New Hive Site

thousands of honeybees swarm on a tree branch, closely together building a half spherical shape

Biological Strategy

Bees

AskNature Team

Image: Alan Schmierer / Flickr / Public Domain - No restrictions

Cooperate Within the Same Species

A species is a group of organisms capable of breeding to produce fertile offspring. When individuals within a species undertake activities that benefit one another, that cooperation benefits not just the individuals, but also local and wider populations of that species. Collaborating in activities such as finding food, controlling parasites, and protecting from predators enhances overall survival. To cooperate, there must be enough benefit to an individual, and especially to a population, to justify any risk taken by individuals. Through cooperation, risk is distributed among individuals and the benefits to the community are greater than the sum of the benefits to individuals. An example is birds that gather in flocks, a cooperative activity more beneficial than acting alone. While some birds forage, others watch for predators. When one finds food, others also feed on it. Despite potential short-term competition for an individual that finds food, over the long-term, that same individual benefits when others find different food sources.

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Insects

Class Insecta (“an insect”): Flies, ants, beetles, cockroaches, fleas, dragonflies

Insects are the most abundant arthropods—they make up 90% of the animals in the phylum. They’re found everywhere on earth except the deep ocean, and scientists estimate there are millions of insects not yet described. Most live on land, but many live in freshwater or saltwater marshes for part of their life cycles. Insects have three distinct body sections: a head, which has specialized mouthparts, a thorax, which has jointed legs, and an abdomen. They have well-developed nervous and sensory systems, and are the only invertebrate that can fly, thanks to their lightweight exoskeletons and small size.

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Honeybees in a colony select a new hive location via quorum.

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.

Image: Thomas D. Seeley /

Image: Bidgee / Wikimedia Commons /

1=A swam of ''Apis mellifera'' (<a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_honey_bee class=extiw title=w:European honey bee>European honey bees</a>).