Nest-site selection in honey bees: how well do swarms implement the "best-of-N" decision rule?
Nest-site selection in honey bees: how well do swarms implement the "best-of-N" decision rule?
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蜜蜂的巢址选择：蜂群执行“N最佳”决策规则的效果如何？
DOI：
10.1007/s002650000299
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发表时间：
2001
影响因子：
2.3
通讯作者：
Susannah C. Buhrman
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
T. Seeley;Susannah C. Buhrman
抽象的。这项研究认为，蜜蜂群作为一个超有机体的实体，已形成的自然选择，善于选择未来的家园。先前对这个决策过程的研究表明，群体试图使用N个最佳决策规则：对一定数量（N）的备选方案进行采样，然后选择最佳方案。我们测试了如何以及群实现这一决策规则，他们提出了一个数组的五个巢箱，其中只有一个是高质量的（理想的）巢址，其他四个是中等质量（可接受的）网站。我们发现，蜂群在执行N中最好的决策规则方面相当出色：在五次试验中，有四次，蜂群选择了最佳地点。此外，我们还深入了解了群体如何实现这一决策规则。我们发现，当一只侦察蜂回到蜂群中，用摇摆舞寻找一个潜在的巢穴时，她会根据巢穴的质量来调整舞蹈的强度：巢穴越好，舞蹈越强。一只跳舞的蜜蜂通过调整摇摆跑/舞的数量来调整她的舞蹈强度，她通过改变摇摆跑生产的持续时间和速度来调整摇摆跑/舞的数量。此外，我们发现跳舞的蜜蜂通过改变其舞蹈回路返回阶段部分的平均持续时间来改变其摇摆运行产生的速率。不同的返回阶段持续时间的基础上的印象，舞蹈不同的活力。虽然蜜蜂群具有有限理性（例如，它缺乏对可能的筑巢地点的完整知识），通过其并行处理的能力，它可以选择筑巢地点，而不会大大减少其对备选地点的考虑的广度或深度。这种信息收集和处理的彻底性无疑有助于群体实现N中最佳的决策规则。
Abstract. This study views a honey bee swarm as a supraorganismal entity which has been shaped by natural selection to be skilled at choosing a future home site. Prior studies of this decision-making process indicate that swarms attempt to use the best-of-N decision rule: sample some number (N) of alternatives and then select the best one. We tested how well swarms implement this decision rule by presenting them with an array of five nest boxes, only one of which was a high-quality (desirable) nest site; the other four were medium-quality (acceptable) sites. We found that swarms are reasonably good at carrying out the best-of-N decision rule: in four out of five trials, swarms selected the best site. In addition, we gained insights into how a swarm implements this decision rule. We found that when a scout bee returns to the swarm cluster and advertises a potential nest site with a waggle dance, she tunes the strength of her dance in relation to the quality of her site: the better the site, the stronger the dance. A dancing bee tunes her dance strength by adjusting the number of waggle-runs/dance, and she adjusts the number of waggle-runs/dance by changing both the duration and the rate of her waggle-run production. Moreover, we found that a dancing bee changes the rate of her waggle-run production by changing the mean duration of the return-phase portion of her dance circuits. Differences in return-phase duration underlie the impression that dances differ in liveliness. Although a honey bee swarm has bounded rationality (e.g., it lacks complete knowledge of the possible nesting sites), through its capacity for parallel processing it can choose a nest site without greatly reducing either the breadth or depth of its consideration of the alternative sites. Such thoroughness of information gathering and processing no doubt helps a swarm implement the best-of-N decision rule.