Seeley T D, Mikheyev A S, Pagano G J
Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
J Comp Physiol A. 2000 Sep;186(9):813-9. doi: 10.1007/s003590000134.
For more than 50 years, investigators of the honey bee's waggle dance have reported that richer food sources seem to elicit longer-lasting and livelier dances than do poorer sources. However, no one had measured both dance duration and liveliness as a function of food-source profitability. Using video analysis, we found that nectar foragers adjust both the duration (D) and the rate (R) of waggle-run production, thereby tuning the number of waggle runs produced per foraging trip (W, where W= DR) as a function of food-source profitability. Both duration and rate of waggle-run production increase with rising food-source profitability. Moreover, we found that a dancing bee adjusts the rate of waggle-run production (R) in relation to food-source profitability by adjusting the mean duration of the return-phase portion of her dance circuits. This finding raises the possibility that bees can use return-phase duration as an index of food-source profitability. Finally, dances having different levels of liveliness have different mean durations of the return phase, indicating that dance liveliness can be quantified in terms of the time interval between consecutive waggle runs.
五十多年来，研究蜜蜂摇摆舞的人员一直报告称，与较差的食物来源相比，更丰富的食物来源似乎会引发持续时间更长、更活跃的舞蹈。然而，此前没有人将舞蹈持续时间和活跃度作为食物来源盈利能力的函数进行测量。通过视频分析，我们发现采集花蜜的蜜蜂会调整摇摆跑动的持续时间（D）和速率（R），从而根据食物来源的盈利能力调整每次觅食行程产生的摇摆跑动次数（W，其中W = DR）。摇摆跑动的持续时间和速率都会随着食物来源盈利能力的提高而增加。此外，我们发现，一只跳舞的蜜蜂会通过调整其舞蹈回路返回阶段部分的平均持续时间，来根据食物来源的盈利能力调整摇摆跑动的速率（R）。这一发现增加了蜜蜂能够将返回阶段持续时间用作食物来源盈利能力指标的可能性。最后，具有不同活跃度水平的舞蹈，其返回阶段的平均持续时间也不同，这表明舞蹈活跃度可以根据连续摇摆跑动之间的时间间隔来量化。
