Group decision making in nest-site selection by honey bees

Thomas Seeley , P. Kirk Visscher

In recent years, renewed attention has been paid to the mechanisms of group decision making that underlie the nest-site selection process in honey bees. We review the results of these new investigations by discussing how the recent work builds on the earlier descriptive studies of this decision-making process, how the decision-making abilities of swarms have been tested, and how the mechanisms of this decision-making process have been experimentally analyzed. We conclude by discussing how the scouts in a swarm sense when their group decision making is coming to an end and so should begin stimulating their quiescent swarm-mates to prepare for the flight to their new home.

Mots clés: Apis mellifera; group decision making; honey bee; nest-site selection; swarming; waggle dance

Domaines: Zoologie des invertébrés; Biodiversité; Ecologie, Environnement; Science des productions animales

Thomas Seeley, P. Kirk Visscher. Group decision making in nest-site selection by honey bees. Apidologie, 2004, 35 (2), pp.101-116. ⟨10.1051/apido:2004004⟩. ⟨hal-00891879⟩