Resource Patches Research Articles

Network traits predict ecological strategies in fungi

Colonization of terrestrial environments by filamentous fungi relies on their ability to form networks that can forage for and connect resource patches. Despite the importance of these networks, ecologists rarely consider network features as functional traits because their measurement and interpretation are conceptually and methodologically difficult. To address these challenges, we have developed a pipeline to translate images of fungal mycelia, from both micro- and macro-scales, to weighted network graphs that capture ecologically relevant fungal behaviour. We focus on four properties that we hypothesize determine how fungi forage for resources, specifically: connectivity; relative construction cost; transport efficiency; and robustness against attack by fungivores. Constrained ordination and Pareto front analysis of these traits revealed that foraging strategies can be distinguished predominantly along a gradient of connectivity for micro- and macro-scale mycelial networks that is reminiscent of the qualitative ‘phalanx’ and ‘guerilla’ descriptors previously proposed in the literature. At one extreme are species with many inter-connections that increase the paths for multidirectional transport and robustness to damage, but with a high construction cost; at the other extreme are species with an opposite phenotype. Thus, we propose this approach represents a significant advance in quantifying ecological strategies for fungi using network information.

Blazing the Trail: Geographic Information Systems Analysis of the Old North Trail

The Old North Trail was the main north-to-south link running along the eastern flank of the Rocky Mountains, within the homeland of the Blackfoot people. While travelling along this trail, human groups stopped at resource patches and important landmarks, leaving evidence of their passing in the form of archaeological sites. This paper examines the historical and archaeological evidence for the Old North Trail and discusses use of least-cost path analysis within a geographic information system framework to model the route of the trail. Where differences exist between the location of least-cost paths and the course of the Old North Trail, the “pull” factors that may have drawn human groups away from the most efficient route across the landscape will be explored. This analysis suggests there was a sacred dimension to this landscape, with features of ecological and ideological importance affecting human movement through the region.

Patchily distributed but not necessarily isolated populations ofDeuterocohnia meziana: a threatened bromeliad from rock outcrops

AbstractThe movement of organisms or genes among resource patches is fundamental to the persistence of natural populations over time. Species occurring in rock outcrops may have difficulty maintaining genetic connectivity due to the natural disjunct distribution of these formations, which may lead to genetic differentiation. In this study, we tested the hypothesis of genetic isolation among populations of Deuterocohnia meziana on rock outcrops in Brazil. We evaluated genetic diversity and structure, number of migrants, and the contribution of pollen and seed to dispersal. Additionally, we used niche modelling to estimate the potential distribution of D. meziana and combined this with genetic data to identify potential dispersal routes under different climatic scenarios from the Quaternary. Deuterocohnia meziana showed high diversity and moderate genetic structure, low number of migrants and more efficient dispersal by pollen. Only populations separated by > 70 km showed genetic differentiation. Dispersal routes varied mainly in the intensity of the environmental suitability and indicated the present scenario as the most favourable for gene flow in D. meziana. Our findings contribute to the understanding of processes related to the connectivity and isolation of naturally fragmented populations, highlighting the role of biotic and abiotic drivers for genetic differentiation.

Variable intraspecific space use supports optimality in an apex predator

Within optimality theory, an animal’s home range can be considered a fitness-driven attempt to obtain resources for survival and reproduction while minimizing costs. We assessed whether brown bears (Ursus arctos) in two island populations maximized resource patches within home ranges (Resource Dispersion Hypothesis [RDH]) or occupied only areas necessary to meet their biological requirements (Temporal Resource Variability Hypothesis [TRVH]) at annual and seasonal scales. We further examined how intrinsic factors (age, reproductive status) affected optimal choices. We found dynamic patterns of space use between populations, with support for RDH and TRVH at both scales. The RDH was likely supported seasonally as a result of bears maximizing space use to obtain a mix of nutritional resources for weight gain. Annually, support for RDH likely reflected changing abundances and distributions of foods within different timber stand classes. TRVH was supported at both scales, with bears minimizing space use when food resources were temporally concentrated. Range sizes and optimal strategies varied among sex and reproductive classes, with males occupying larger ranges, supporting mate seeking behavior and increased metabolic demands of larger body sizes. This work emphasizes the importance of scale when examining animal movement ecology, as optimal behavioral decisions are scale dependent.

Tracks of Death: Elephant Casualties along the Habaipur–Diphu Railway in Assam, India

Railway development is an important component of sustainable transportation systems but also affects wildlife habitats worldwide. Here, we assess spatiotemporal patterns of elephant–train collisions and mortalities within the state of Assam, India, and relate them to spatial and temporal land cover change (LCC) from 1988 to 2018. The results indicate that an extension of railways into forested landscapes is associated with large-scale LCC and increased elephant–train collisions and mortality. Prior to 1997, when the railway system used narrower gauge rails, elephant deaths from collisions occurred at a rate of one or two per year. After 1997, when the system was converted to larger gauge rails, elephant deaths increased starkly and now occur at a rate approaching ten per year. While the rail gauges were being converted, the landscape around the Habaipur–Diphu railway line saw a sevenfold increase in annual net loss of dense forest. The transition from forest to croplands was the most dominant process of deforestation and forest fragmentation during the postconversion period. Although elephant–train collisions are strongly associated with the land use transitions shown here, conservation and remediation measures can help to stem further declines in forest habitats and promote safe movement by elephants between resource patches.

Patch utilization and flower visitations by wild bees in a honey bee-dominated, grassland landscape.

Understanding habitat needs and patch utilization of wild and managed bees has been identified as a national research priority in the United States. We used occupancy models to investigate patterns of bee use across 1030 transects spanning a gradient of floral resource abundance and richness and distance from apiaries in the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) of the United States. Estimates of transect use by honey bees were nearly 1.0 during our 3.5‐month sampling period, suggesting honey bees were nearly ubiquitous across transects. Wild bees more frequently used transects with higher flower richness and more abundant flowers; however, the effect size of the native flower abundance covariate (β^native = 3.90 ± 0.65 [1SE]) was four times greater than the non‐native flower covariate (β^non‐native = 0.99 ± 0.17). We found some evidence that wild bee use was lower at transects near commercial apiaries, but the effect size was imprecise (β^distance = 1.4 ± 0.81). Honey bees were more frequently detected during sampling events with more non‐native flowers and higher species richness but showed an uncertain relationship with native flower abundance. Of the 4039 honey bee and flower interactions, 85% occurred on non‐native flowers, while only 43% of the 738 wild bee observations occurred on non‐native flowers. Our study suggests wild bees and honey bees routinely use the same resource patches in the PPR but often visit different flowering plants. The greatest potential for resource overlap between honey bees and wild bees appears to be for non‐native flowers in the PPR. Our results are valuable to natural resource managers tasked with supporting habitat for managed and wild pollinators in agroecosystems.

Indirect effect of familiarity on survival: a path analysis on video game data

Familiarity between members of the same group is predicted to play a role in many biological processes. Familiarity can facilitate recognition, aggregation, communication, coordination and cooperation between group members. We tested a path of interrelated hypotheses on the effect of familiarity on survival, resource acquisition, predator avoidance and cooperation. We predicted that individuals with familiar members in their group would have a higher survival, acquire resources faster, avoid predators more easily and perform more cooperative actions. We used data from an online video game (Dead by Daylight) where small groups of four players (i.e. prey) must exploit resource patches while avoiding a predator. Prey can help fellow prey when the predator catches them (cooperation). Using a video game as a study system provided access to a large behavioural data set that would otherwise be difficult to obtain in nature. Using path analysis, we found evidence that coordinated resource acquisition and helping behaviours increased with the number of familiar individuals in the group. However, more cooperative actions increased their encounters with the predator and thus reduced their survival. When accounting for all indirect effects of familiarity on survival (through resource acquisition, cooperation and predator–prey encounters), familiarity had a small indirect net positive effect on survival. • We used a huge data set from an online survival video game with prey and predators. • We tested the indirect effect of familiarity among group members on survival. • Familiarity increased predation risk, cooperation and coordinated resource acquisition. • Familiarity between players indirectly and slightly improved survival in the game.

Conditional natal dispersal provides a mechanism for populations tracking resource pulses after fire

AbstractAnimals that persist in spatially structured populations face the challenge of tracking the rise and fall of resources across space and time. To combat these challenges, theory predicts that species should use conditional dispersal strategies that allow them to emigrate from patches with declining resources and colonize new resource patches as they appear. We studied natal dispersal movements in the black-backed woodpecker (Picoides arcticus), a species known for its strong association with recent post-fire forests in western North America. We radio-tracked juveniles originating from seven burned areas and tested hypotheses that environmental and individual factors influence dispersal distance and emigration rates—investigating emigration while additionally accounting for imperfect detection with a novel Bayesian model. We found that juveniles were more likely to leave natal areas and disperse longer distances if they were heavier or hatched in older burned areas where resources are increasingly scarce. Juveniles were also more likely to leave their natal burn if they hatched in a nest closer to the fire perimeter. While dispersing across the landscape, black-backed woodpeckers selected for burned forest relative to unburned available habitat. Together, these results strongly support the hypothesis that black-backed woodpecker populations track resource pulses across fire-prone landscapes, with conditional natal dispersal acting as a mechanism for locating and colonizing newly burned areas. Lending empirical support to theoretical predictions, our findings suggest that changes in resource distribution may shape dispersal patterns and, consequently, the distribution and persistence of spatially structured populations.

Multiple responses of fine root resource uptake strategies to gravel content in a subtropical plantation

Most forest soils contain substantial amounts of gravel. However, unlike the more widely known root resource uptake behaviors which respond to resource patches in substrate without gravels, how roots respond to substrate containing different gravel levels is poorly understood. We grew roots in substrates with five gravel levels (0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40% of volume) in a subtropical Schima superba Gardn. et Champ plantation, determined fine root dynamics and turnover rate with minirhizotrons, measured fine root morphological, architectural, mycorrhizal colonization, chemistry, and mass allocation. The presence of gravel in the substrate delayed the timing of peak root growth. In the substrate with higher gravel content, plants produced more in roots in autumn, but there were fewer roots in summer and the roots tended to exhibit lower fine root turnover rate and mycorrhizal colonization, but higher root biomass allocation. The higher root biomass in the substrate with higher gravel content was associated with higher root carbon/nitrogen ratio. Our findings emphasize the complexity of root resource uptake behavior in response to gravel content and suggest that incorporating substrate gravel content into root studies may help to improve the prediction of patch exploitation and nutrient acquisition in stony soils.

Sustainable Indigenous Fishing in the Pre-Contact Caribbean: Evidence and Critical Considerations from Carriacou, Grenada

Multiple studies reveal pre-1492 anthropogenic impacts on Caribbean fisheries that are consistent with overfishing, including changes in targeted prey, shifts in marine habitats exploited, and decreases in the average body size of taxa. At the Indigenous Caribbean village of Sabazan (AD 400–1400) on Carriacou, Lesser Antilles, post-AD 800 declines in fishing, increased mollusk collection, and changes in resource patch emphasis accord with the archaeological correlates of resource depression predicted by foraging theory models from behavioral ecology. Here, I apply foraging theory logic and abundance indices incorporating body size and fish habitat to test the predictions of expanded diet breadth, declining prey body size, and shifts to more distant fishing patches that are typically associated with overfishing. Results uphold a significant decrease in overall fishing, which may be due to habitat change associated with the Medieval Warm Period. Indices of fish size and resource patch use do not meet foraging theory expectations for resource depression, however. Instead, they suggest an absence of resource depression in the Sabazan fishery and at least 600 years of sustainable fishing. I review similar findings for other Caribbean archaeological sites with either negative evidence for fisheries’ declines or quantitatively demonstrated sustainable fishing. These sites collectively serve as a critical reminder of the heterogeneous trajectories of Indigenous social–ecological systems in the pre-contact Caribbean and the need for meta-level analyses of the region’s ancient fisheries. I discuss the application of the sustainability concept in archaeological studies of fishing and conclude that a more critical, explicit approach to defining and measuring sustainability in ancient fisheries is needed.

The effect of individual learning on collective foraging in honey bees in differently structured landscapes

The trade-off between exploiting known resources and exploring for new ones is a complex decision-making challenge, particularly when resource patches are variable in quality and heterogeneously distributed in the landscape. Social insect colonies navigate this challenge, in the absence of centralized control, by allocating different individuals to exploration or exploitation based on variation in individual behaviour. To investigate how heritable differences in individual learning affect a colony's collective ability to locate and choose among different quality food resources, we develop an agent-based model and test its predictions empirically using two genetic lines of honey bees ( Apis mellifera ), selected for differences in their learning behaviour. We show that colonies containing individuals that are better at learning to ignore unrewarding stimuli are worse at collectively choosing the highest-quality resource. This work highlights how differences in individual behaviour may have unexpected consequences for the emergence of collective behaviour. • We examined how individual behaviour affects collective foraging in honey bees. • Colonies with more exploiters were better at choosing the best quality food. • Optimal proportion of explorers was higher when resources were spatially clumped. • Less exploratory workers were best at choosing the highest-quality food patches. • Explorers facilitate quick collective decisions and exploiters facilitate accuracy.

Optimizing conservation in species-specific agricultural landscapes.

Recovery of grassland birds in agricultural landscapes is a global imperative. Agricultural landscapes are complex, and the value of resource patches may vary substantially among species. The spatial extent at which landscape features affect populations (i.e., scale of effect) may also differ among species. There is a need for regional-scale conservation planning that considers landscape-scale and species-specific responses of grassland birds to environmental change. We developed a spatially explicit approach to optimizing grassland conservation in the context of species-specific landscapes and prioritization of species recovery and applied it to a conservation program in Kentucky (USA). We used a hierarchical distance-sampling model with an embedded scale of effect predictor to estimate the relationship between landscape structure and abundance of eastern meadowlarks (Sturnella magna), field sparrows (Spizella pusilla), and northern bobwhites (Colinus virginianus). We used a novel spatially explicit optimization procedure rooted in multi-attribute utility theory to design alternative conservation strategies (e.g., prioritize only northern bobwhite recovery or assign equal weight to each species' recovery). Eastern meadowlarks and field sparrows were more likely to respond to landscape-scale resource patch adjacencies than landscape-scale patch densities. Northern bobwhite responded to both landscape-scale resource patch adjacencies and densities and responded strongly to increased grassland density. Effects of landscape features on local abundance decreased as distance increased and had negligible influence at 0.8 km for eastern meadowlarks (0.7-1.2 km 95% Bayesian credibility intervals [BCI]), 2.5 km for field sparrows (1.5-5.8 km 95% BCI), and 8.4 km for bobwhite (6.4-26 km 95% BCI). Northern bobwhites were predicted to benefit greatly from future grassland conservation regardless of conservation priorities, but eastern meadowlark and field sparrow were not. Our results suggest similar species can respond differently to broad-scale conservation practices because of species-specific, distance-dependent relationships with landscape structure. Our framework is quantitative, conceptually simple, customizable, and predictive and can be used to optimize conservation in heterogeneous ecosystems while considering landscape-scale processes and explicit prioritization of species recovery.

Socially Defined Subpopulations Reveal Demographic Variation in a Giraffe Metapopulation

ABSTRACTPopulations are typically defined as spatially contiguous sets of individuals, but large populations of social species can be composed of discrete social communities that often overlap in space. Masai giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis tippelskirchi) of Tanzania live in distinct social subpopulations that overlap spatially, enabling us to simultaneously explore environmental and social factors correlated with demographic variation in a metapopulation of >1,400 adult females and calves. We considered statistically distinct communities in the social network as subpopulations and tested for variation among the 10 subpopulations in adult female survival, calf survival, and reproductive rate (calf‐to‐adult female ratio). We then related variation in demographic rates among subpopulations to differences in vegetation, soil type, proximity to 2 types of human settlements, local giraffe population density, and social metrics of relationship strength and exclusivity among adult females. We did not find any among‐subpopulation effects on adult female survival, suggesting adult female survival is buffered against environmental heterogeneity among subpopulations. Variation in calf demographic rates among subpopulations were correlated with vegetation, soils, anthropogenic factors, and giraffe population density but not with adult female relationship metrics, despite substantial spatial overlap. Subpopulations with more dense bushlands in their ranges had lower calf survival probabilities, and those closer to human settlements had higher reproductive rates, possibly because of spatial gradients in natural predation. Reproductive rates were higher in subpopulations with more volcanic soils, and calf survival probabilities were greater in subpopulations with higher local adult female densities, possibly related to higher‐quality habitat associated with fertile soils or lower predation risk, or to greater competitive ability. The variation in fitness among subpopulations suggests that giraffes do not move unhindered among resource patches to equalize reproductive success, as expected according to an ideal free distribution. The differences in calf survival and reproductive rates could rather indicate intercommunity differences in competitive ability, perception, learning, or experience. Our approach of comparing demography among spatially overlapping yet distinct socially defined subpopulations provides a biologically meaningful way to quantify environmental and social factors influencing fine‐scale demographic variation for social species. © 2021 The Wildlife Society.

Ecological variation and institutionalized inequality in hunter-gatherer societies

Research examining institutionalized hierarchy tends to focus on chiefdoms and states, while its emergence among small-scale societies remains poorly understood. Here, we test multiple hypotheses for institutionalized hierarchy, using environmental and social data on 89 hunter-gatherer societies along the Pacific coast of North America. We utilize statistical models capable of identifying the main correlates of sustained political and economic inequality, while controlling for historical and spatial dependence. Our results indicate that the most important predictors relate to spatiotemporal distribution of resources. Specifically, higher reliance on and ownership of clumped aquatic (primarily salmon) versus wild plant resources is associated with greater political-economic inequality, measuring the latter as a composite of internal social ranking, unequal access to food resources, and presence of slavery. Variables indexing population pressure, scalar stress, and intergroup conflict exhibit little or no correlation with variation in inequality. These results are consistent with models positing that hierarchy will emerge when individuals or coalitions (e.g., kin groups) control access to economically defensible, highly clumped resource patches, and use this control to extract benefits from subordinates, such as productive labor and political allegiance in a patron-client system. This evolutionary ecological explanation might illuminate how and why institutionalized hierarchy emerges among many small-scale societies.

On the evolution of social ties as an instrumental tool for resource competition in resource patch networks

Human is a highly cultural species with diversified skills and knowledge. In this paper, we examine whether the diversification of skills and knowledge can promote the emergence of social ties between individuals as means for acquiring resources. Specifically, we construct a simulation model consisting of two types of actors—one who uses social ties to search for resources and one who does not—and allow them to compete for resources that are distributed in resource patch networks of varying structures. In a densely connected resource patch network, implying a setting with less diversified sets of skills and knowledge, model result demonstrates that social ties can be detrimental to those adopting it. In a sparsely connected network, implying a setting with more diversified sets of skills and knowledge, social-type strategy can outcompete solitary-type strategy. Furthermore, actors with a pure social-type strategy are always inferior to their solitary competitors, regardless the structure of the resource patch network. Our modeling framework is of a very fundamental nature, and its relevance to existing theories and the sociological implication of its results are discussed.

Impacts of underground competition and establishment on growth and root architecture of breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) and māmaki (Pipturus albidus)

Replacing conventional monocultures with more diverse agroecosystems can positively impact environmental quality, but their adoption is limited, in part, due to inadequate understanding of how these systems operate regarding belowground competition. We examined how root competition between breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) and māmaki (Pipturus albidus) affected aboveground performance. Our 2 × 3 factorial design consisted of two competition treatments and the three establishment treatments. Plants were grown together on either side of 47-gallon pots. For non-competition groups, a sheet of vinyl plastic was used to keep the roots of each species separate while maintaining above ground conditions. We used root cores to quantify the spatial allocation of root biomass to explore competition strategies of the two crops and measured biomass production to determine how growth was affected by competition. The two species demonstrated different responses to below-ground competition, with above ground biomass (AGBM) decreased for breadfruit but increased for māmaki. Below ground biomass increased for both plants under competition. Prior establishment enhanced māmaki's response to competition, while breadfruit's response to competition was exacerbated by post establishment and mitigated by simultaneous establishment. We suggest that māmaki's response is due to a more aggressive strategy that targets resource patches, while breadfruit is unable to compete within established māmaki zones and employs an avoidance strategy for root allocation.

A new approach to assessing the space use behavior of macroinvertebrates by automated video tracking.

Individual space and resource use are central issues in ecology and conservation. Recent technological advances such as automated tracking techniques are boosting ecological research in this field. However, the development of a robust method to track space and resource use is still challenging for at least one important ecosystem component: motile aquatic macroinvertebrates. The challenges are mostly related to the small body size and rapid movement of many macroinvertebrate species and to light scattering and wave signal interference in aquatic habitats.We developed a video tracking method designed to reliably assess space use behavior among individual aquatic macroinvertebrates under laboratory (microcosm) conditions. The approach involves the use of experimental apparatus integrating a near infrared backlight source, a Plexiglas multi‐patch maze, multiple infrared cameras, and automated video analysis. It allows detection of the position of fast‐moving (~ 3 cm/s) and translucent individuals of small size (~ 5 mm in length, ~1 mg in dry weight) on simulated resource patches distributed over an experimental microcosm (0.08 m2).To illustrate the adequacy of the proposed method, we present a case study regarding the size dependency of space use behavior in the model organism Gammarus insensibilis, focusing on individual patch selection, giving‐up times, and cumulative space used.In the case study, primary data were collected on individual body size and individual locomotory behavior, for example, mean speed, acceleration, and step length. Individual entrance and departure times were recorded for each simulated resource patch in the experimental maze. Individual giving‐up times were found to be characterized by negative size dependency, with patch departure occurring sooner in larger individuals than smaller ones, and individual cumulative space used (treated as the overall surface area of resource patches that individuals visited) was found to scale positively with body size.This approach to studying space use behavior can deepen our understanding of species coexistence, yielding insights into mechanistic models on larger spatial scales, for example, home range, with implications for ecological and evolutionary processes, as well as for the management and conservation of populations and ecosystems. Despite being specifically developed for aquatic macroinvertebrates, this method can also be applied to other small aquatic organisms such as juvenile fish and amphibians.

The ecology of competition: A theory of risk-reward environments in adaptive decision making.

In many choice environments, risks and rewards-or probabilities and payoffs-seem tightly coupled such that high payoffs only occur with low probabilities. An adaptive mind can exploit this association by, for instance, using a potential reward's size to infer the probability of obtaining it. However, a mind can only adapt to and exploit an environmental structure if it is ecologically reliable, that is if it is frequent and recurrent. We develop the competitive risk-reward ecology theory (CET) that establishes how the ecology of competition can make the association of high rewards with low probabilities ubiquitous. This association occurs because of what is known as the ideal free distribution (IFD) principle. The IFD states that competitors in a landscape of resource patches distribute themselves proportionally to the gross total amount of resources in the patches. CET shows how this principle implies a risk-reward structure: an inverse relationship between probabilities and payoffs. It also identifies boundary conditions for the risk-reward structure, including heterogeneity of resources, computational limits of competitors, and scarcity of resources. Finally, a set of empirical studies (N = 1,255) demonstrate that people's beliefs map onto properties predicted by CET and change as a function of the environment. In sum, grounding people's inferences in CET demonstrates how the behaviors of a boundedly rational mind can be better predicted once accounts of the mind and the environment are fused. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Stability Analysis of Delayed Age-Structured Resource-Consumer Model of Population Dynamics With Saturated Intake Rate

This article studies nonlinear n-resource-consumer autonomous system with age-structured consumer population. The model of consumer population dynamics is described by a delayed transport equation, and the dynamics of resource patches are described by ODE with saturated intake rate. The delay models the digestion period of generalist consumer and is included in the calorie intake rate, which impacts the consumer’s fertility and mortality. Saturated intake rate models the inhibition effect from the behavioral change of the resource patches when they react to the consumer population growing or from the crowding effect of the consumer. The conditions for the existence of trivial, semi-trivial, and non-trivial equilibria and their local asymptotic stability were obtained. The local asymptotic stability/instability of non-trivial equilibrium of a system with depleted patches is defined by new derived criteria, which relate the demographic characteristics of consumers with their search rate, growth rate of resource in patches, and behavioral change of the food resource when consumer population grows. The digestion period of a generalist consumer does not cause local asymptotical instabilities of consumer population at the semi-trivial and nontrivial equilibria. These theoretical results may be used in the study of metapopulation dynamics, desert locust populations dynamics, prey-predator interactions in fisheries, etc. The paper uses numerical experiments to confirm and illustrate all dynamical regimes of the n-resource-consumer population.

Spatial allocation without spatial recruitment in bumblebees

AbstractAny foraging animal is expected to allocate its efforts among resource patches that vary in quality across time and space. For social insects, this problem is shifted to the colony level: the task of allocating foraging workers to the best patches currently available. To deal with this task, honeybees rely upon differential recruitment via the dance language, while some ants use differential recruitment on odor trails. Bumblebees, close relatives of honeybees, should also benefit from optimizing spatial allocation but lack any targeted recruitment system. How bumblebees solve this problem is thus of immense interest to evolutionary biologists studying collective behavior. It has been thought that bumblebees could solve the spatial allocation problem by relying on the summed individual decisions of foragers, who occasionally sample and shift to alternative resources. We use field experiments to test the hypothesis that bumblebees augment individual exploration with social information. Specifically, we provide behavioral evidence that, when higher-concentration sucrose arrives at the nest, employed foragers abandon their patches to begin searching for the better option; they are more likely to accept novel resources if they match the quality of the sucrose solution experienced in the nest. We explored this strategy further by building an agent-based model of bumblebee foraging. This model supports the hypothesis that using social information to inform search decisions is advantageous over individual search alone. Our results show that bumblebees use a collective foraging strategy built on social modulation of individual decisions, providing further insight into the evolution of collective behavior.