What is the stop signal?
Short answerTrueEmerging research
A brief vibratory pulse, delivered by butting a dancing bee head-on, that inhibits her from continuing to advertise a site. It is used against sites where the sender met danger, and between rival scouts advertising competing nest cavities — where the mutual inhibition is what lets a swarm break a deadlock.
What it was thought to be
For decades it was interpreted as a begging signal — a request for food from a returning forager. The reinterpretation came from noticing which bees produce it and when: bees that have encountered a predator or a crowded, contested feeder at a site go on to butt dancers advertising that site.
Cross-inhibition in a swarm
The more consequential use is in nest-site choice. Scouts advertising one cavity deliver stop signals to scouts advertising a different one. Because the inhibition is mutual and proportional, a swarm faced with two roughly equal options does not stall: the small random advantage one option accumulates is amplified until the other stops being advertised. Without cross-inhibition a swarm could deadlock and split, which would be fatal.
Sources
- A negative feedback signal that is triggered by peril curbs honey bee recruitment — Current Biology (2010) · Peer-reviewed article
- Stop signals provide cross inhibition in collective decision-making by honeybee swarms — Science (2012) · Peer-reviewed article
- Honeybee Democracy — Princeton University Press (2010) · Monograph
How sources are selected and weighted is set out in the sources and evidence policy.