AUTOMATA, MATCHING AND FORAGING BEHAVIOR OF BEES

Using the approach of bounded rationality and myopic learning, we atte mpt to explain why bees (as examples of a forager animal) do the right (optimal) thing in an environment of many foragers, namely to adopt t he Ideal Free Distribution, but do the wrong thing when they are alone , namely stick to the Matching Law. We discuss two types of simple for aging strategies for bees. Each of these explicit strategies explains that in a multi-bee community the bees will distribute themselves over the nectar sources according to the Ideal Free Distribution. At the s ame time, these strategies explain that in single-bee experimental set tings a bee will match, by its number of visits, the nectar supply fro m the available sources (the Matching Law). Moreover, both strategies explain that in certain situations the bees may behave as if they are risk averse. These results indicate that a competitive market in a mul ti-bee community permits individuals to be boundedly rational and stil l forage optimally. (C) 1995 Academic Press Limited