Monday, August 29, 2022

Book Review - Communication between Honeybees : More than Just a Dance in the Dark - Springer Nature


      Just when you thought you knew all there was to know about bee communication, along comes a book to dispel that myth!
     Jürgen Tautz is a renowned researcher and a formidable communicator, blessed with that rare ability to write a book filled with information for the scientific reader yet equally accessible to the lay person. The central theme explored in this work, as is implied by the subtitle "more than just a dance in the dark", is that while the waggle dance is an important source of communication among bees, it does not reveal the whole story. It is overvalued insofar as it ignores communication outside the hive.
     The waggle dance was first recognized by Karl von Frisch, who, along with Nikolaas Tinbergen and Konrad Lorenz, was awarded a Nobel Prize. It became established orthodoxy, accepted at face value by most researchers that the dance conveyed all information required to locate a source of food; to challenge a Nobel laureate requires a certain degree of bravery after all!
     Tautz does not question the central importance of the waggle dance, nor von Frisch's contribution to the science of bees, but he argues that it is useful only in conjunction with communication received outside the hive - "Previous research on the dance language of bees concentrated mostly on what happens in hives and at food sites and ignored events in the field" (p. 111).  Bees following a scent trail, for example, are using external stimuli to locate a foraging area, supplementing the primary information communicated by the waggle dance.

Communication in the open (Ingo Arndt)

     The following infographic succinctly illustrates the relationship between communication in the hive via the waggle dance and its fine tuning outside the hive.


     This should be displayed prominently as a poster wherever entomology is taught - on any level!     
     As the reader goes through this book, Tautz takes us on a tour of the research throughout the ages that leads us to where we are today, from Aristotle to Spengel, to Maeterlinck, to Gould - and many others.
     The waggle dance serves also to enable bee swarms to locate and occupy new homes, but this would be impossible without communication in the field. From the book beginning on page 122 -

"Everything that research has presented so far to confirm the classical thesis that despite inaccuracies the bee dance leads the bees directly to the food source falls away in the recruitment of small cohorts to a newly discovered nest site:

1. In this most critical phase, bees cannot derive an averaged correct instruction from many (half-true) dance rounds because at first only a single bee dances for the goal.
2. To spread out over an area, advantageous for a broad field of flowers, would be fatal. A single advertised hollow must be visited, virtually a single point in the landscape.
3. No goal-orienting signals emanate from the hollow.
4. Without a continuation of communication in the field, each scout bee would remain alone with her discovery and no recruit would arrive at the site." (Emphasis mine).

     Time and again, Tautz illustrates that the bee dance is the initial component of communication - but not the whole story, and acted on alone would result in failure.
     The book concludes with an excellent glossary and a magnificently comprehensive list of further references. 
     It has been a unique privilege for me to review this book, and I would find it impossible to adequately summarize what I have learned from it. Every so often, a text comes along that stands out from all others, written by a dedicated researcher possessed of the talent required to convey complex science to a wide audience. I take my hat off to Jürgen Tautz who has accomplished just that, and the world of bee research is all the better for it.

Communication between Honeybees: More than Just a Dance in the Dark - Springer Nature
Author: Jürgen Tautz
165 pages - 59 colour illustrations - 8 b/w illustrations
ISBN 978-3-030-99483-9
Publishing September 2022


David M. Gascoigne,
David M. Gascoigne,

I'm a life long birder. My interests are birds, nature, reading, books, outdoors, travel, food and wine.

60 comments:

  1. Although I'm sure that it's an excellent book, David, I think that the price might defeat me on this one!

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    1. Maybe your local library will add a copy, Richard. I found this one exceptionally fascinating.

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  2. This looks like a great book for bee fans and I have a feeling that if Erika hasn't discovered it already, she'll have it in her library soon!

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  3. ...nature sure is a complex thing!

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  4. We have so much to learn. So very much. It is lovely to read that some are forging ahead to educate us and hopefully to stress just how important other species survival is to our own.

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  5. You are right, just when you think you knew all about bees this happens. The book sounds amazing. Have a nice evening.

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  6. There are few critters more interesting than bees, although I actually find bumblebees the most intriguing. And thankfully, this summer I seem to have more of those fuzzy little guys in my garden than ever before.

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    1. I am glad that you have many bumblebees in your garden, Dorothy.

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  7. I'm shure it's a great book, David. I have just started to read to read Mind of a Bee. I'm guessing there's more to learn about this amazing insects in books to come.
    Hugs and kisses, Marit

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    1. Kudos to you, Marit, for reading "Mind of a Bee." Great book!

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  8. A great book. I have to admit I know very little about bees. So much to learn about nature.

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  9. How interesting are bees...can't live without them.

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  10. It is always agreat feeling when you discover abook that hits the mark.

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  11. I think this is a great book for people who love insects, especially bees.
    Greetings Irma

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  12. This is very fascinating, now I will start watc hing the bees more intently to see if I can understand them better! Thanks for sharing. Have a great day, Big hugs, Valerie

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  13. Hello, David,
    Another great review, sounds like a great book for the nature lover. Take care, enjoy your day!

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    1. Not only nature lovers, Eileen, for every inquiring mind.

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  14. C'est un livre qui change des autres sur les abeilles, sans doute très intéressant pour y appendre beaucoup de choses. Bonne journée

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  15. Después de un corto período de inactividad, pasando a saludar a los amigos.
    Buenos días, querido amigo David, gran reseña nos muestras hoy. Mucho deberíamos aprender la humanidad sobre este incansable y maravilloso mundo, el de las abejas. Al paso que vamos no sé lo que pueden durar, ojalá los gobiernos tomen conciencia, aún estamos a tiempo, de lo contrario malos augurios se pueden presentar para una humanidad cada vez más deshumanizada.
    Un fuerte abrazo, amigos y os deseo un magnífico mes de septiembre de vuestro incondicional amigo Juan.

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    1. What you say is so true, Juan. We really have to get serious about remediating the environment, and soon. Un abrazo.

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  16. Not surprising that bee communication is more complex than what humans think.

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  17. Hello David, We all need to educate ourselves about bees, and this book will give us a better understanding of the communication between them. I already have a book about insects which includes
    bees, but I still have to learn more about them. This is a good review David, but I will find something else with larger print, to satisfy my curiosity.
    Hugs, and all the best from your friend in Portugal, who loves the large print on your blog. :=)

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  18. Bees are so intriguing, such clever beings and so essential in our lives. Thanks for identifying the "ducks" as Canada geese I saw in Germany and the saxophone instead of trumpet, lol.

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  19. Beautiful book David if you like bees. Thank you for visiting my blog.

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  20. Oh yes, dear David,
    even the most learned people - obviously even Nobel Prize winners - still know far too little about the language (and probably also about the intelligence and the soul) of animals. I read again and again, the language of the whales has not yet been researched, there are only assumptions, the meaning of this and that animal peculiarities has not yet been researched, even with cats, which are among the most popular pets, there are still so many gaps in knowledge and inconsistencies . It is gratifying when there are scientists who gradually close these gaps and also share their knowledge with "non-scientific people".
    All the best and hugs,
    Traude
    https://rostrose.blogspot.com/2022/08/blackout-teil-3-noch-fragen-offen.html

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  21. Hi david,
    It is without a doubt an extraordinary book.
    Thanks for sharing.

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    1. The book is extraordinary, the bees even more so, Maria.

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  22. Como me gustan las abejas, me encanta verlas en mi jardín, son felices en las flores del naranjo, limonero y demás. Abrazos.

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    1. Ellas son esenciales para un jardin exitoso, amiga Teresa.

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  23. Es un mundo apasionante y debe describirlo muy bien ese libro.

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  24. Muy interesante amigo. Esperemos que no desaparezcan sería terrible para el ecosistema y tendíamos que modifica nuestros hábitos de consumo. Un insecto muy útil para todos.
    Que paséis buena noche David.
    Un abrazo.

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  25. This really does sound an excellent book, many thanks for your review David.

    All the best Jan

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  26. The perfect book for bee fan !
    They suffer a lot this year...from heat waves and drought...
    Have a nice day !
    Anna

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  27. Hi David - it is quite extraordinary how passionate people become about a particular subject ... I note Tautz thought about this back in 2008 in his book 'The Buzz about Bees'. It makes perfect sense - and oddly connected me to a subject so different to bees that I'd just looked up today, so strange the way the world takes us/me.

    Yet more appropriately ... we've just had a tv series on Botany: Blooming History by Timothy Walker (botanist) - which showed us through the centuries how unlocking the mysteries of the plant kingdom came to be - from Linnaeus, Philip King, John Ray ... and onwards. One researcher spent four years investigating one particular aspect ... while during the Stalin era (1930s) some scientists lived trapped underground for three years to protect Vavilov's seed bank - research is key ...

    So much to learn, so many secrets to unlock that we humans can make beneficial use of ... an excellent review ... that has triggered much in my mind. I'd love to read it ... thanks for your enthusiastic review - brilliant - cheers Hilary

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    1. Thanks, Hilary. It's a great book and Jürgen Tautz is a great scientist.

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  28. Communication makes them act as a team.

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  29. There is so much in this natural world of ours that 'science' has yet to discover, or that one can ever learn in an entire lifetime of study. As a simple observer, I stand in awe before it all :)

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    1. Now if only we could learn to take better care of it.......

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    2. Let me add this one to my reading list. I think bees have many ways to communicate. One example is my bird bath, which is now my bee bath. Sometimes there are as many as 20 bees there at one time, perched on the edge, drinking water. I can't believe they all just randomly discovered this flying by. And bees are in and out of my bee bath all day. Since the waggle dance is used for pollen sources, not water, how would the bees distinguish and know about this water source? Any group of animals living together and working together definitely need to communicate. You can just look at dogs and cats for that. OK, enough babbling. Thanks for this book recommendation. I'm off to Amazon to look it up. hugs-Erika

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  30. Hello David, Although I took Sandra's identification to be gospel, I was a little dubious myself, because I looked at what must have been hundreds of wasp images, and although some looked similar, none looked exactly the same. Thank you for your observation, and comment. I'll keep searching!:=)

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  31. Well it stands the test of logic ... and yet, look how long it took someone to figure it out. Thank heaven there are those who are interested and talented enough to take us to the next level. I love your book reviews and have learned a great deal from the books you have shared with us. So, thank heaven there are those who would share their knowledge with us ... Thank you again, David :)

    Andrea @ From the Sol

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    1. And to think that Trump once said, "The scientists don't know what they're talking about." Consider the source is all I have to say!

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    2. If only the 1/3 of the American population that hangs on Trumps every word were as wise as you, David ... that is what upsets me as much as what an idiot he is.

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    3. That's the greatest puzzle of all, Andrea.

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  32. "Interesting" doesn't even begin to define it.

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  33. I have to admit that I know very little about bees. Nevertheless I find them fascinating andam very happy that there are so many in my pollinator garden. I can't even tell them apart, only know that I have more than the "common" honeybee. It is very helpful that a scientific book is written in a way that laymen can understand it as well. I think if I read this book - which would be a wonderful learning experience - I'd read it in German because I still understand science better in my native tongue.

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    1. I am sure that Dr. Tautz would be thrilled that someone in America was reading it in German, Carola.

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  34. Bonjour David, An interesting book I am sure, but I suspect that I will not be buying it. Our library is overflowing and Nigel keep saying can't we get rid of a few books. I hang on to everyone one, as one is always wanted occasionally!

    The bees here fascinate me. I am allergic to bee stings, but I am sure our local population recognises me. When the water level gets low in the bird's water and I go out to top them up. The centre stone is always covered by a mass of bees. I pour the water in slowly so as not to drown them, and they fly up and hover around my hand, (which at first frightened me), but they seem to wait until I have topped up the water and then they just settle down on the stone again. I am amazed by this routine, that during these very hot days we are having happens a couple of times a day.
    Hope all is well, Cheers Diane

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  35. I have great admiration for what you are doing, Diane. I am quite confident that the bees recognize you and know that you only wish them well.

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  36. Yes, absolutely bee faces qualify and are perfect for Friday Face OFF. Thank you for joining in. Have a great day today.

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  37. I always learn something from you, David, and today it was the waggle dance! Thank you!

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    1. I am always glad to hear that you learn from my posts, Amy. Little did I think it would be a new dance!

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  38. The book is extremely interesting. I dream to read it someday, when its edition will be published in Poland.
    Hugs and greetings:)

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    1. Fingers crossed, Lucja-Maria. It is also published in German.

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  39. I have been asked to add the following comment, which I am very happy to do:
    I am new to ‘blogs’ and couldn’t find a way to comment on Professor Tautz’s
    latest book “Communication between Honeybees”. I would like to add the
    following comment if you deem it appropriate. Thank you for your help.

    Professor Tautz’s 3 Phase flight of a Honeybee Recruit to a food source
    (Sent, Search, Attract) after observing the Dancer’s Waggle is analogous to
    the strategy employed by the NASA OSIRIS REx Mission to intercept the
    Asteroid Bennu. The direction and approximate distance of Bennu is
    communicated to a missile then launched in that ‘general direction’ (Sent);
    when getting close, sensors on-board acquire Bennu (Search) and guide the
    payload to intercept (Attract). In addition, the Mission includes landing
    on Bennu, getting a soil sample, and return to Earth—lessons from Nature’s
    Honeybees!

    Regards,
    Dr. Chuck Byvik | byvik@aol.com

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