Natures wonders: bumble bee social trends (Introduction)

by David Turell , Wednesday, March 08, 2023, 02:20 (625 days ago) @ David Turell
edited by David Turell, Wednesday, March 08, 2023, 02:31

Patterns of behaviour quickly copied by colony:

https://phys.org/news/2023-03-bumblebees-trends-behavior.html

"A new study has shown that bumblebees pick up new "trends" in their behavior by watching and learning from other bees, and that one form of a behavior can spread rapidly through a colony even when a different version gets discovered.

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"'Demonstrator" bees were trained to use either the red or blue tabs, with "observer" bees watching. When it was the observers' turn to tackle the puzzle, they overwhelmingly and repeatedly chose to use the same method that they had seen, even after discovering the alternative option. This preference for the taught option was maintained by whole colonies of bees, with a mean of 98.6% of box openings made using the taught method.

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"In an additional experiment, the researchers put both "blue" and "red" demonstrators into the same populations of bees. In the first population, 97.3% of the 263 incidences of box-opening by observers by day 12 used the red method. In the second population, observers preferred the blue method over the red on all days except one. In both cases, this demonstrated how a behavioral trend might emerge in a population in the first place—for the most part, due to experienced bees retiring from foraging and new learners arising, rather than any bees changing their preferred behavior.

"Similar results from similar experiments have been used in species such as primates and birds to suggest that they, like humans, are capable of culture. If bumblebees are capable of this, too, this could potentially explain the evolutionary origin of many of the complex behaviors seen among social insects. It might be possible that what now appears instinctive could have been socially learnt, at least originally.

"Dr. Alice Bridges, the lead author from Queen Mary University of London, said, "Bumblebees—and, indeed, invertebrates in general—aren't known to show culture-like phenomena in the wild. However, in our experiments, we saw the spread and maintenance of a behavioral 'trend' in groups of bumblebees—similar to what has been seen in primates and birds. The behavioral repertoires of social insects like these bumblebees are some of the most intricate on the planet, yet most of this is still thought to be instinctive. Our research suggests that social learning may have had a greater influence on the evolution of this behavior than previously imagined."

"Professor Lars Chittka, Professor of Sensory and Behavioral Ecology at Queen Mary University of London and author of the book "The Mind of a Bee," said, "The fact that bees can watch and learn, and then make a habit of that behavior, adds to the ever-growing body of evidence that they are far smarter creatures than a lot of people give them credit for.

"'We tend to overlook the 'alien civilizations' formed by bees, ants and wasps on our planet—because they are small-bodied and their societies and architectural constructions seem governed by instinct at first glance. Our research shows, however, that new innovations can spread like social media memes through insect colonies, indicating that they can respond to wholly new environmental challenges much faster than by evolutionary changes, which would take many generations to manifest.'"

Comment: no question, social insects copy each other rather quickly. The last paragraph is right on. Can major instincts develop this way? I did a literature search. Ant societies don't do this. Castes and actions are rigid and fixed.