Role of Olfactory and Acoustic Information in the Communication of Food Location by Stingless Bees (Genus Melipona)

University Of California-San Diego, La Jolla CA

Investigators

Abstract

LAY ABSTRACT Role of olfactory and acoustic information in the communication of food location by stingless bees (genus Melipona) James C. Nieh NSF Award 0316697 Successful foragers of highly social insects commonly communicate the location of good food sources to other colony members. In honeybees, such location communication can occur through the waggle dance, famous because honeybees encode the distance and direction to a resource in the waggle dance (referential communication). This degree of directional information is only matched by human language. Aside from honeybees, the tropical stingless bees are the only highly social bees, and both groups are closely related. Several authors have therefore made preliminary studies to see if stingless bees also have a similar ability to encode and communicate food location. Previously, the P.I. discovered that one species of stingless bee can communicate 3D food location and may encode distance and height in sound pulses. Through this grant, the P.I. will determine, in detail, the role of odor and sound in this communication system. He will also begin playback experiments designed to test whether bees can use acoustic information to find a food source at specific 3D location. This research will increase our understanding of sophisticated animal communication by exploring a new model of referential communication, the stingless bees.