Foraging bumblebees use social cues more when the task is difficult

David Baracchi, Vera Vasas, Soha Jamshed Iqbal, Sylvain Alem and Dan PapajHandling Editor

Behavioral Ecology, 2018, vol. 29, issue 1, 186-192

Abstract: Foraging animals, such as bees, can have access to both personal and social information. Knowing when it is advantageous to copy others, and when it is better to draw your own conclusions, is crucial for decision making. We show that when bumblebees face an easy foraging task, their decisions are only marginally affected by the behavior of others. On the contrary, bees rely on social information when solving a difficult foraging task.

Keywords: associative learning; decision making; insect cognition; learning strategy; social learning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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