Effects of Sinusoidal Vibrations on the Motion Response of Honeybees

Vibratory signals play a major role in the organization of honeybee colonies. Due to the seemingly chaotic nature of the mechano-acoustic landscape within the hive, it is difficult to understand the exact meaning of specific substrate-borne signals. Artificially generated vibrational substrate stimu...

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Main Authors: Martin Stefanec, Hannes Oberreiter, Matthias A. Becher, Gundolf Haase, Thomas Schmickl
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-06-01
Series:Frontiers in Physics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphy.2021.670555/full
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author Martin Stefanec
Hannes Oberreiter
Matthias A. Becher
Gundolf Haase
Thomas Schmickl
author_facet Martin Stefanec
Hannes Oberreiter
Matthias A. Becher
Gundolf Haase
Thomas Schmickl
author_sort Martin Stefanec
collection DOAJ
description Vibratory signals play a major role in the organization of honeybee colonies. Due to the seemingly chaotic nature of the mechano-acoustic landscape within the hive, it is difficult to understand the exact meaning of specific substrate-borne signals. Artificially generated vibrational substrate stimuli not only allow precise frequency and amplitude control for studying the effects of specific stimuli, but could also provide an interface for human-animal interaction for bee-keeping-relevant colony interventions. We present a simple method for analyzing motion activity of honeybees and show that specifically generated vibrational signals can be used to alter honeybee behavior. Certain frequency-amplitude combinations can induce a significant decrease and other signals might trigger an increase in honeybees’ motion activity. Our results demonstrate how different subtle local modulatory signals on the comb can influence individual bees in the local vicinity of the emitter. Our findings could fundamentally impact our general understanding of a major communication pathway in honeybee colonies. This pathway is based on mechanic signal emission and mechanic proprio-reception of honeybees in the bee colony. It is a candidate to be a technologically accessible gateway into the self-regulated system of the colony and thus may offer a novel information transmission interface between humans and honeybees for the next generation of “smart beehives” in future beekeeping.
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spelling doaj.art-5e8ac40d88ec4ee4ae23792013d88ea22022-12-21T20:37:57ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Physics2296-424X2021-06-01910.3389/fphy.2021.670555670555Effects of Sinusoidal Vibrations on the Motion Response of HoneybeesMartin Stefanec0Hannes Oberreiter1Matthias A. Becher2Gundolf Haase3Thomas Schmickl4Artificial Life Laboratory, Institute of Biology, University of Graz, Graz, AustriaArtificial Life Laboratory, Institute of Biology, University of Graz, Graz, AustriaArtificial Life Laboratory, Institute of Biology, University of Graz, Graz, AustriaInstitute of Mathematics and Scientific Computing, University of Graz, Graz, AustriaArtificial Life Laboratory, Institute of Biology, University of Graz, Graz, AustriaVibratory signals play a major role in the organization of honeybee colonies. Due to the seemingly chaotic nature of the mechano-acoustic landscape within the hive, it is difficult to understand the exact meaning of specific substrate-borne signals. Artificially generated vibrational substrate stimuli not only allow precise frequency and amplitude control for studying the effects of specific stimuli, but could also provide an interface for human-animal interaction for bee-keeping-relevant colony interventions. We present a simple method for analyzing motion activity of honeybees and show that specifically generated vibrational signals can be used to alter honeybee behavior. Certain frequency-amplitude combinations can induce a significant decrease and other signals might trigger an increase in honeybees’ motion activity. Our results demonstrate how different subtle local modulatory signals on the comb can influence individual bees in the local vicinity of the emitter. Our findings could fundamentally impact our general understanding of a major communication pathway in honeybee colonies. This pathway is based on mechanic signal emission and mechanic proprio-reception of honeybees in the bee colony. It is a candidate to be a technologically accessible gateway into the self-regulated system of the colony and thus may offer a novel information transmission interface between humans and honeybees for the next generation of “smart beehives” in future beekeeping.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphy.2021.670555/fullhoneybeesbehaviorsubstrate-born communicationmodulatory signalsfreezing responds
spellingShingle Martin Stefanec
Hannes Oberreiter
Matthias A. Becher
Gundolf Haase
Thomas Schmickl
Effects of Sinusoidal Vibrations on the Motion Response of Honeybees
Frontiers in Physics
honeybees
behavior
substrate-born communication
modulatory signals
freezing responds
title Effects of Sinusoidal Vibrations on the Motion Response of Honeybees
title_full Effects of Sinusoidal Vibrations on the Motion Response of Honeybees
title_fullStr Effects of Sinusoidal Vibrations on the Motion Response of Honeybees
title_full_unstemmed Effects of Sinusoidal Vibrations on the Motion Response of Honeybees
title_short Effects of Sinusoidal Vibrations on the Motion Response of Honeybees
title_sort effects of sinusoidal vibrations on the motion response of honeybees
topic honeybees
behavior
substrate-born communication
modulatory signals
freezing responds
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphy.2021.670555/full
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AT gundolfhaase effectsofsinusoidalvibrationsonthemotionresponseofhoneybees
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