Honey bees are flying the same routes with a level of precision that surprised researchers.
A University of Freiburg team tracked bees in the wild with a drone-based system and found individual bees followed their own highly consistent paths between their hive and a food source about 120 metres away in an agricultural area.
The study was led by neurobiologist and behavioral biologist Prof. Dr. Andrew Straw. His team used a drone to monitor bees traveling between the hive and the food source, and tracked them in flight using a method called “Fast Lock-On (FLO) Tracking,” developed by Straw’s research group.
The system works by attaching a tiny reflective marker to each bee. A computer mounted on the drone analyzes reflected light and can identify and track a bee within milliseconds as it flies.
“Our tracking system makes it possible for the first time to record high-resolution 3D flight paths of honey bees in natural landscapes,” explains Straw. “Our recordings show that each bee has its own preferred route and flies it very precisely. You could almost say that each bee has its own personality.”
Researchers analyzed 255 flight paths collected near Kaiserstuhl, Germany. The study area included hedges, a cornfield and a tree between the hive and the food source, which prevented a direct route.
“We found a high degree of precision in the flight paths. Individual bees repeated their individual flight paths nearly exactly on several flights. They often fly just a few centimeters away from their previous paths,” Straw emphasizes.
The most consistent flight behavior appeared near prominent landscape features, especially the tree. The greatest variation appeared when bees flew above the cornfield, where there were fewer distinct visual cues.
“Our results suggest that visual landmarks aid the bees’ navigation and increase the precision of their flight paths,” explains Straw.
The findings also add to research on the waggle dance, which honey bees use to communicate the location of food sources to other bees in the colony.
“It was previously known that the directional information in the waggle dance is not entirely accurate,” explains Straw.
For food sources about 100 metres away, the directional information in the waggle dance can deviate by around 30 degrees. The researchers said the new results suggest that inaccuracy is not caused by poor navigation skills.
“Our research has shown that individual bees navigate much more accurately to destinations they are familiar with. Even where their flight paths vary most, they deviate from their individual route by only a few degrees. Our results allow us to conclude that the inaccuracy of the waggle dance is not due to the bees’ limited navigational abilities. Rather, individual animals are spatially much more accurately oriented than their dance communication would suggest,” says Straw.
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