Sometimes a honeybee hive is not quite buzzing, and the workers need a signal to get busy. For the first time, scientists have made extensive recordings of a drumming sound some honeybees make to order their colleagues to get to work.
We鈥檝e known about this聽鈥渄orso-ventral abdominal vibration鈥� (DVAV) signal for about 90 years, and some biologists have captured video of bees producing the sound 鈥� but these earlier studies have only monitored bees for short periods during the day. Now Martin Bencsik聽at聽Nottingham Trent University, UK, and his colleagues have analysed a year鈥檚 worth of data from devices that record vibrations in the honeycomb inside three hives, revealing more about the function of the message.
The sound clip below is a recording of the signal, slowed to 40 per cent of original speed to make it easier to hear.
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Only some bees give the signals: they are thought to be older bees, who have more experience of foraging. 鈥淚 think they are the most mature, wisest elements of the colony,鈥� says Bencsik.
About 70 per cent of the time, a bee makes the signal by vibrating its abdomen while grasping another bee with its legs to transfer the message. On other occasions, they deliver the vibration directly onto the honeycomb. The transmitter bee sometimes runs around the hive, delivering the signal many times in quick succession to reach a large number of other bees.
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The effect the signal has on individual recipients is hard to judge, but overall, it has been shown to activate the colony. 鈥淭he recipient bee seems to be energised,鈥� says Bencsik. 鈥淪he gets on with her job with more energy, as if she has had coffee or something.鈥�
The recordings reveal that the DVAV signal occurs most frequently at night. Why that is, given that no foraging occurs at night, is puzzling, but it might be related to activities like food processing or brood care that go on around the clock.
The DVAV is one of numerous vibrational signals that bees are known to make. Others include the waggle dance, which tells other bees where to forage; the grooming dance request, which a bee performs when it wants another bee to groom its聽wings; and a pair of sounds made by virgin queens, known as tooting and quacking. Bencsik鈥檚 team previously described a whooping sound that appears to be an expression of surprise.
He believes more sophisticated analysis could reveal other signals we don鈥檛 yet know about. 鈥淢y dream is to eventually be able to collect these signals automatically. I鈥檓 convinced the daily statistics of this rich repertoire of vibrational signals is going to give us a highly specific picture of the colony status.鈥�
Scientific Reports
