The vibration dance of the honey bee. II. The effects of foraging success on daily patterns of vibration activity

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Using a series of experiments that manipulated the ability of colonies to collect food, we investigated the possibility that daily patterns of vibration dance activity were dependent upon foraging success. We found that large peaks of vibration dance activity occurring early in the morning were induced if a colony experienced 3–4 days of successful foraging. In contrast, smaller vibration peaks occurring later in the day were found to be immediate responses (occurring within 30 min) to increased foraging activity. There was no indication that peaks of vibration activity were influenced by weather. The vibration dance therefore appeared to be sensitive to foraging success on both a long- and a short-term basis. Since previous research suggested that the vibration dance also regulates foraging on two time scales, the dance may operate as a two-level feedback system which allows colonies to adjust foraging activity to both long- and short-term fluctuations in food availability.