Group Decision-Making

这个项目的目标是阐明动物群体决策中最令人印象深刻的例子之一的机制：一群蜜蜂选择一个新的巢址。蜜蜂的选择方法使一群几百只侦察蜜蜂能够迅速而准确地就未来的居住地达成共识。了解蜂群的成员如何形成一个有效的决策单位可能有实际的应用，因为我们人类也经常作为一个负责做出具有重要后果的决策的群体的成员。先前关于蜂群选择巢址的研究集中在确定蜜蜂的选择标准（它们的决定基于什么）。这项研究将侧重于蜜蜂的选择方法（它们如何做出决定）。特别是，将分析蜜蜂达成共识的过程。在其他事情中，这将包括跟踪被标记为个体识别的侦察蜜蜂的行动，并注意每只侦察蜜蜂如何根据她所找到的巢穴的质量调整她的行为。不知何故，那些找到了不那么好的地点的蜜蜂必须意识到这一点，然后把它们的“忠诚”转移到最好的地点。这项调查很可能揭示，在决策过程中，没有一个侦察蜂拥有各种备选方案的概要知识。相反，最有可能的情况是，每只蜜蜂的功能仅仅是群体级单位的一小部分，在这个单位中，产生、评估和选择替代方案的任务是集体完成的。因此，这项研究将为社会生物学中的一个重要思想提供一个强有力的例子：一个群体的成员，通过共同合作，可以形成一个群体水平

PI: Seeley Proposal Number: 9630159 The goal of this project is to elucidate the mechanisms underlying one of the most impressive examples of group decision making in animals: the selection of a new nest site by swarms of honey bees. The bees' methods of choice enable the several hundred scout bees in a swarm to reach a consensus about a future dwelling place with both speed and accuracy. Understanding how the members of a honey bee colony form an effective decision-making unit may well have practical applications, for we humans also often function as members of a group responsible for making decisions with important consequences. Prior studies of nest-site selection by honey bee swarms have concentrated on determining the bees' criteria of choice (what they base their decision on). This study will focus on the bees' methods of choice (how they form their decision). In particular, the bees' process of consensus building will be analyzed. Among other things, this will involve following the actions of scout bees labeled for individual identification and noting how each scout bee adjusts her behavior as a function of the quality of the nest site that she has found. Somehow, the bees that have located sites that are less than the best must become aware of this and then switch their "allegiance" to the best site. This investigation is likely to reveal that none of the scout bees possesses a synoptic knowledge of the various alternatives under consideration in the decision-making process. Instead, what seems most likely is that each bee functions merely as one small part of a group-level unit in which the tasks of generating, evaluating, and choosing among alternatives are accomplished collectively. Thus this study will provide a strong example of an important idea in sociobiology: that the members of a group, by working together cooperatively, can form a group-level