Copy-when-uncertain: bumblebees rely on social information when rewards are highly variable

Authored by Lars Chittka, Marco Smolla, Susanne Shultz, Sylvain Alem

Date Published: 2016

DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2016.0188

Sponsors: Royal Society

Platforms: No platforms listed

Model Documentation: Other Narrative

Model Code URLs: Model code not found

Abstract

To understand the relative benefits of social and personal information use in foraging decisions, we developed an agent-based model of social learning that predicts social information should be more adaptive where resources are highly variable and personal information where resources vary little. We tested our predictions with bumblebees and found that foragers relied more on social information when resources were variable than when they were not. We then investigated whether socially salient cues are used preferentially over non-social ones in variable environments. Although bees clearly used social cues in highly variable environments, under the same conditions they did not use non-social cues. These results suggest that bumblebees use a `copy-when-uncertain' strategy.

Tags

Model insects Foraging bumblebees Honey-bees Learning strategies