Ramsey Michael, Bencsik Martin, Newton Michael I
Department of Physics and Mathematics, Nottingham Trent University, School of Science and Technology, Clifton Lane, Nottingham, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2017 Feb 8;12(2):e0171162. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0171162. eCollection 2017.
It is known that honeybees use vibrational communication pathways to transfer information. One honeybee signal that has been previously investigated is the short vibrational pulse named the 'stop signal', because its inhibitory effect is generally the most accepted interpretation. The present study demonstrates long term (over 9 months) automated in-situ non-invasive monitoring of a honeybee vibrational pulse with the same characteristics of what has previously been described as a stop signal using ultra-sensitive accelerometers embedded in the honeycomb located at the heart of honeybee colonies. We show that the signal is very common and highly repeatable, occurring mainly at night with a distinct decrease in instances towards midday, and that it can be elicited en masse from bees following the gentle shaking or knocking of their hive with distinct evidence of habituation. The results of our study suggest that this vibrational pulse is generated under many different circumstances, thereby unifying previous publication's conflicting definitions, and we demonstrate that this pulse can be generated in response to a surprise stimulus. This work suggests that, using an artificial stimulus and monitoring the changes in the features of this signal could provide a sensitive tool to assess colony status.
众所周知，蜜蜂利用振动通讯途径来传递信息。先前已被研究的一种蜜蜂信号是名为“停止信号”的短振动脉冲，因为其抑制作用通常是最被认可的解释。本研究展示了使用嵌入位于蜂群核心位置蜂巢中的超灵敏加速度计，对具有先前被描述为停止信号相同特征的蜜蜂振动脉冲进行长达9个月的长期原位非侵入式自动监测。我们发现该信号非常常见且高度可重复，主要在夜间出现，中午时分实例明显减少，并且通过轻轻摇晃或敲击蜂巢能使蜜蜂集体发出该信号，且有明显的习惯化证据。我们的研究结果表明，这种振动脉冲在许多不同情况下都会产生，从而统一了先前出版物中相互矛盾的定义，并且我们证明这种脉冲可以因意外刺激而产生。这项工作表明，使用人工刺激并监测该信号特征的变化可以提供一种评估蜂群状态的灵敏工具。
