In regard to my comprehensive bee language hypothesis, jim says the
places NOT to forage would be very large, and he wonders how such a
mechanism would work.

To clarify (I hope), a bee that follows a dance might decide not to go
to the indicated food source. It might set out in any other direction to
search for an odour plume of the same smell as that on the dancing bee.
When it found one, it would follow the plume to its origin, in the
manner proposed by Adrian Wenner. For example, if a foraging bee (a
scout) finds the first apple blossoms for the season, which are highly
rewarding for both nectar and pollen, it may dance in the hive. A bee
observing the dance will become aware of the scent of apple blossom on
the dancing bee and will use the distance and direction information to
avoid the discovered tree to maximise its chances of finding another
apple tree by looking for the same scent.

So for some bees following a dance about a newly discovered apple tree,
the area they will NOT forage will be just the area indicated by that
dancing bee, which of course will be very small. At the same time, some
bees following dances about other rewarding flowers, e.g. a  patch of
black currants, will search in other directions for odour plumes of
black currants - which may include the area of the discovered apple
tree, which they will ignore.

The overall result for the hive is that because some other bees do use
the information in the dances to go to the discovered flowers, and some
other bees use the information to most quickly find the same new flowers
in other directions, the whole area over which bees from that hive can
forage is searched for the most productive flowers. The overall result
is that the foraging success of the hive is maximised.

Regards,
Barry Donovan
Canterbury Agriculture and Science Centre
Lincoln
New Zealand.



______________________________________________________
CAUTION: The information contained in this email is privileged
and confidential.  If you read this message and you are not the
intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use,
dissemination, distribution or reproduction of all or part of the
contents is prohibited. If you receive this message in error,
please notify the sender immediately.

Any opinions or views expressed in this message are those of the
individual sender and may not represent those of their employer.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and  other info ---
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::