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Flow-Mediated Olfactory Communication in Honey Bee Swarms

Dieu My T. Nguyen, Michael L. Iuzzolino, Aaron Mankel, Katarzyna Bozek, Greg J. Stephens, Orit Peleg
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.23.112540
Dieu My T. Nguyen
1Department of Computer Science, University of Colorado Boulder
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Michael L. Iuzzolino
1Department of Computer Science, University of Colorado Boulder
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Aaron Mankel
2Department of Physics, University of Colorado Boulder
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Katarzyna Bozek
3Biological Physics Theory Unit, Okinawa Institute of Technology
4Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne, University of Cologne
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Greg J. Stephens
3Biological Physics Theory Unit, Okinawa Institute of Technology
5Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
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Orit Peleg
1Department of Computer Science, University of Colorado Boulder
6BioFrontiers Institute, University of Colorado Boulder
7Santa Fe Institute
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  • For correspondence: orit.peleg@colorado.edu
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Abstract

Honey bee swarms are a landmark example of collective behavior. To become a coherent swarm, bees locate their queen by tracking her pheromones, but how can distant individuals exploit these chemical signals which decay rapidly in space and time? Here, we combine a novel behavioral assay with the machine vision detection of organism location and scenting behavior to track the search and aggregation dynamics of the honey bee Apis mellifera L. We find that bees collectively create a communication network to propagate pheromone signals, by arranging in a specific spatial distribution where there is a characteristic distance between individuals and a characteristic direction in which individuals broadcast the signals. To better understand such a flow–mediated directional communication strategy, we connect our experimental results to an agent–based model where virtual bees with simple, local behavioral rules, exist in a flow environment. Our model shows that increased directional bias leads to a more efficient aggregation process that avoids local equilibrium configurations of isotropic communication, such as small bee clusters that persist throughout the simulation. Our results highlight a novel example of extended classical stigmergy: rather than depositing static information in the environment, individual bees locally sense and globally manipulate the physical fields of chemical concentration and airflow.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Footnotes

  • https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1buXqfecHQCAzzOBldApdh7KylHVvmeo8?usp=sharing

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
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Posted May 25, 2020.
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Flow-Mediated Olfactory Communication in Honey Bee Swarms
Dieu My T. Nguyen, Michael L. Iuzzolino, Aaron Mankel, Katarzyna Bozek, Greg J. Stephens, Orit Peleg
bioRxiv 2020.05.23.112540; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.23.112540
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Flow-Mediated Olfactory Communication in Honey Bee Swarms
Dieu My T. Nguyen, Michael L. Iuzzolino, Aaron Mankel, Katarzyna Bozek, Greg J. Stephens, Orit Peleg
bioRxiv 2020.05.23.112540; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.23.112540

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