SELF-ORGANIZATION OF CIRCADIAN-RHYTHMS IN GROUPS OF HONEYBEES (APIS-MELLIFERA L)

Workers in social groups of honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) synchronize their individual free-running circadian rhythms to an overall group rh ythm. By monitoring the activity of bees by recording the oxygen consu mption and intragroup temperature, it is shown that the rhythm coordin ation is in part achieved by temperature fluctuations as an intragroup Zeitgeber. Trophallaxis was shown to have only a minor (if any) effec t on circadian rhythm synchronization. A model incorporating a feed ba ck loop between temperature and activity can plausibly explain the obs erved synchronization of individual rhythms in social groups as a self -organization phenomenon.