KINETIC PHASE TRANSITION IN HONEYBEE FORAGING DYNAMICS: SYNERGY OF INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE

Abstract

We consider a honeybee colony as a dynamical system gathering information from an environment and accordingly adjusting its behavior. Collective foraging behavior is shown to be triggered by the change of either colony size or profitability of exploited nectar sources. The collective mode provides greater productivity compared to the individual one. The latter does not diminish the importance of individual behavior that ensures the adaptivity of the system. Thus, the transition from the phase of individual behavior to a more complex phase, combining both individual and collective modes, provides the most effective scenario of honeybee colony foraging.