The Dance Language and Orientation of Bees

Karl von Frisch

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The Dance Language and Orientation of Bees

Karl von Frisch
Translated by: Leigh E. Chadwick
Preface by: Thomas D. Seeley

Language: English

Published/Copyright: 1993

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About this book

Until his death in 1982, Karl von Frisch was the world's most renowned authority on bees. The Dance Language and Orientation of Bees is his masterwork--the culmination of more than fifty years of research. Now available for the first time in paperback, it describes in non-technical language what he discovered in a lifetime of study about honeybees--their methods of orientation, their sensory faculties, and their remarkable ability to communicate with one another. Thomas Seeley's new foreword traces the revolutionary effects of von Frisch's work, not just for the study of bees, but for all subsequent research in animal behavior. This new paperback edition also includes an "Appreciation" of von Frisch by the distinguished biologist Martin Lindauer, who was Frisch's protégé and later his colleague and friend.

Author / Editor information

von Frisch Karl :

Karl von Frisch was Professor of Zoology, Emeritus, as the University of Munich. He is the well-known author of many books, including The Dancing Bees and Man and the Living World and co-recipient of the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.Seeley Thomas D. :

Thomas D. Seeley is Professor of Biology, Cornell University.

Reviews

This significant and lucid volume is the dichtes Buch of Karl von Frisch. Here in full flower are his classic experiments with honeybees which revolutionized our thinking about the communication behavior of animals.

Von Frisch's The Dance Language and Orientation of Bees will surely take its place in the tiny group of genuine classics of scientific literature. It is the definitive account of the waggle dance and other forms of honeybee communication as they have been so consummately elucidated by von Frisch and his students, and it contains in addition a clear summary of the vast lore of experiments on the sensory physiology and orientation of the honeybee.

Von Frisch's clear and inspiring prose sets a standard for scientific writing which has never been bettered. You will never view the insect kingdom in the same way again.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Foreword to the Paperback Edition Thomas D. Seeley Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	xi
An Appreciation of Karl von Frisch Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	xxi
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	xxiii
Part One. The Dances of Bees
I. Historical Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	3
II. Methods in General Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	7
III. The Round Dance as a Means of Communication when Nectar Sources Are Nearby Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	28
IV. The Tail-Wagging Dance as a Means of Communication when Food Sources Are Distant
1. DESCRIPTION OF THE TAIL-WAGGING DANCE Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	57
2. THE TRANSITION FROM THE ROUND DANCE TO THE TAIL–WAGGING DANCE Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	61
3. COMPARISON OF NECTAR AND POLLEN COLLECTORS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	62
A. THE INDICATION OF DISTANCE
4. THE TEMPO OF THE DANCE Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	64
5. THE INFLUENCE OF INTERNAL FACTORS ON THE DANCE TEMPO Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	70
6. THE INFLUENCE OF EXTERNAL FACTORS ON THE TEMPO OF DANCING Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	75
7. HOW ACCURATELY CAN NEWCOMERS FOLLOW THE DISTANCE INDICATIONS? STEPWISE EXPERIMENTS (STUFENVERSUCHE) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	84
8. WHAT PART OF THE TAIL–WAGGING DANCE IS THE SIGNAL THAT DEFINES THE DISTANCE? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	96
9. HOW DOES THE DANCER ESTIMATE THE DISTANCE? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	109
10. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE OUTWARD AND THE HOMEWORD FLIGHT IN THE INDICATION OF DISTANCE Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	116
11. THE SHAPE OF THE CURVE FOR DISTANCE Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	121
B. THE INDICATION OF DIRECTION
12. FIRST HINTS OF THE MODE OF INDICATING THE DIRECTION OF THE GOAL Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	129
13. THE INDICATION OF DIRECTION ON A HORIZONTAL SURFACE Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	131
14. THE INDICATION OF DIRECTION ON THE SURFACE OF A VERTICAL COMB Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	137
15. DANCES ON AN OBLIQUE COMB SURFACE Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	146
16. INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN THE INDICATION OF DIRECTION, AND THE INFLUENCE OF AGE Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	149
17. COMPARISON OF THE EFFECTS OF ROUND DANCES AND TAIL–WAGGING DANCES Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	149
18. HOW PRECISELY IS THE INDICATION OF DIRECTION FOLLOWED BY THE NEWCOMERS? EXPERIMENTS IN A FAN–SHAPED PATTERN Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	156
19. DANCES WHEN THE SUN IS IN THE ZENITH Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	160
20. NO INDICATION OF DIRECTION UPWARD OR DOWNWARD Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	163
21. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE OUTBOUND AND HOMEBOUND FLIGHTS FOR THE INDICATION OF DIRECTION Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	169
22. DETOUR EXPERIMENTS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	173
23. THE INDICATION OF DIRECTION IN A CROSSWIND Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	186
24. “MISDIRECTION” Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	196
25. THE ROLE OF THE SCENT ORGAN AND FLORAL ODORS WITH DISTANT SOURCES OF FOOD Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	222
26. WE LOOK FOR A FEEDING STATION FROM DIRECTIONS SUPPLIED BY THE BEES Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	227
V. Dependence of the Dances on the Profitability of Foraging Activity Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	236
VI. Guidance by Scent Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	257
VII. Application of the Dances to Other Objectives Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	265
VIII. Other Dance Forms Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	278
IX. Danceless Communication by Means of Sounds and Scents Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	285
X. Variants of the “Language of the Bees” Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	293
XI. Phylogeny and Symbolism of the “Language of the Bees” Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	321
Part Two. The Orientation of Bees on the Way to the Goal
XII. Orientation on Long–Distance Flights Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	331
XIII. Orientation When Near the Goal Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	465
Retrospect Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	524
References Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	527
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	557

Publishing information

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

eBook published on:

October 1, 2013

eBook ISBN:

9780674418776

Hardcover published on:

February 5, 1993

Hardcover ISBN:

9780674418769

Edition:

Reprint 2014

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

Front matter:

25

Main content:

566

Other:

187 halftones, 267 line illustrations, 45 tables

https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674418776

eBook ISBN: 9780674418776

Hardcover ISBN: 9780674418769

Keywords for this book

SCIENCE / Life Sciences / Biology; Bees.; Insects -- Behavior.; Animal orientation.; Animal communication.

Audience(s) for this book

Professional and scholarly;

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Harvard University Press
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EU responsible person:
Walter de Gruyter GmbH
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The Dance Language and Orientation of Bees

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