Behavioral Ecology Vol. 11 No. 3: 326-333
© 2000 International Society for Behavioral Ecology
Adaptive shifts in honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) guarding behavior support predictions of the acceptance threshold model
Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK
Address correspondence to S. G. Downs, Laboratory of Apiculture and Social Insects, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK. E-mail: bop97sgd{at}sheffield.ac.uk .
The acceptance threshold model predicts that in a fluctuating environment a recognition system should be adaptive rather than fixed. In particular, discriminating individuals, such as guards at a nest entrance, should be less permissive to conspecifics when both the frequency of non-nest-mate contact and the cost of accepting non-nest mates is high. We tested these predictions by studying honey bee guarding during a period in which nectar conditions changed from dearth to abundance. Initially, during nectar dearth, individual guards accepted 80% of introduced nest mates and 25% of non-nest mates. As nectar conditions improved, both the intensity of robbing and guarding and the cost of non-nest-mate acceptance declined. In response, individual guards became more permissive to nest mates and non-nest mates until eventually an "accept-all" threshold occurred—all nest mates and non-nest mates were accepted. These data are consistent with a shifting acceptance threshold and provide the first field data to support the model. A simple linear relationship occurred between the number of guards and the number of fights, 9:1, observed at the hive entrance, suggesting that guarding may be regulated by intruder intensity or otherwise regulated in an adaptive manner.
Key words: acceptance thresholds, conspecific recognition, honey bees, odor convergence.
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