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<p>Honey bee (<i>Apis mellifera</i>) recruitment dances vary in the accuracy of information they convey about available food sources. We investigated whether honey bees can assess the reliability of waggle dances. During the “learning stage”, free-flying foragers were exposed to one of three treatments as they visited the feeder at location A. Treatments differed in the quality of information communicated in the recruitment dances performed by a chosen focal bee. Focal bees were always able to access sugar solution at the feeder, while we changed the reliability of her dances by manipulating the ability of non-focal bees to access the advertised food. Non-focal bees that arrived at the feeder during the “honest” treatment received the advertised food, but were met with an empty feeder during the “liar” treatment. The third “unverified” treatment eliminated the ability of non-focal bees to verify dance information by capturing them upon arrival at the feeder for the remainder of the experiment. During the “test stage” the feeder was moved to a novel location (B). While the same focal bee danced for the new location, all non-focal bees arriving at the feeder were caught, thus testing the implications of the imposed treatments. Effects were positive in the honest treatment but not negative in the liar treatment: “Honest” focal bees increased their recruitment effort by performing more circuits over time when advertising the new food source, unverified dancers decreased recruitment effort, and liar focal bees did not change over time. The increase in honest dancer recruitment effort suggests an ability to assess the reliability of their own signal and may provide an evaluation mechanism for followers. We did not, however, find differences in follower behavior in relation to treatment. In the test stage, non-focal bees followed more circuits overall than in the learning stage. The probability of dancing did not differ across treatments or stages, and the availability of nectar receivers was not affected by the experimental design. We provide evidence of the strength of the waggle dance as an autocatalytic reinforcement of useful information.</p>

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Honey bees increase recruitment effort when dance information is honest

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年5月21日

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  • Karmi L. Oxman,
  • Ofer Feinerman,
  • Sharoni Shafir

摘要

Honey bee (Apis mellifera) recruitment dances vary in the accuracy of information they convey about available food sources. We investigated whether honey bees can assess the reliability of waggle dances. During the “learning stage”, free-flying foragers were exposed to one of three treatments as they visited the feeder at location A. Treatments differed in the quality of information communicated in the recruitment dances performed by a chosen focal bee. Focal bees were always able to access sugar solution at the feeder, while we changed the reliability of her dances by manipulating the ability of non-focal bees to access the advertised food. Non-focal bees that arrived at the feeder during the “honest” treatment received the advertised food, but were met with an empty feeder during the “liar” treatment. The third “unverified” treatment eliminated the ability of non-focal bees to verify dance information by capturing them upon arrival at the feeder for the remainder of the experiment. During the “test stage” the feeder was moved to a novel location (B). While the same focal bee danced for the new location, all non-focal bees arriving at the feeder were caught, thus testing the implications of the imposed treatments. Effects were positive in the honest treatment but not negative in the liar treatment: “Honest” focal bees increased their recruitment effort by performing more circuits over time when advertising the new food source, unverified dancers decreased recruitment effort, and liar focal bees did not change over time. The increase in honest dancer recruitment effort suggests an ability to assess the reliability of their own signal and may provide an evaluation mechanism for followers. We did not, however, find differences in follower behavior in relation to treatment. In the test stage, non-focal bees followed more circuits overall than in the learning stage. The probability of dancing did not differ across treatments or stages, and the availability of nectar receivers was not affected by the experimental design. We provide evidence of the strength of the waggle dance as an autocatalytic reinforcement of useful information.