>The movement of the sun, celebrated at the autumnal equinox, makes me
>wonder how honey bees living between 15 S and 15 N deal with the sun's
>passage overhead.  Certainly somebody has looked at waggle dancing in
>these latitudes.  Is the sun's movement so slow that new foragers
>"imprint" during their orientation flights?
>
>David Kesler
>Rhodes College
>[log in to unmask]
 
                                                       0745 - 9/21/93
 
Dear David,
 
        Yes, the team of New and New worked in Trinidad in the 1960s (?) on
this issue.  However, their studies should be repeated in light of new
interpretation.  Foragers apparently use landmarks as they traverse the
distance between hive and food source.  Recruits apparently exploit odor
molecules and wind patterns as they locate the same type of food as that
visited by experienced foragers, just as outlined by von Frisch in 1937
(just re-published in BEE WORLD:  Vol. 74 (2) 90-98, Summer, 1993).  That
article and a spectrum of studies are reviewed in AMERICAN ZOOLOGIST:  Vol
31:768-782, 1991.
 
        Cheers!
                                        Adrian M. Wenner
 
 Adrian M. Wenner                 Prof. of Natural History, Emeritus
 Dept. of Biol. Sciences                    [log in to unmask]
 Univ. of Calif., Santa Barbara                  Phone:   (805) 893-2838
 Santa Barbara, CA  93106                         FAX:    (805) 893-8062
 
 
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