James C. Nieh

Publications (76) View all

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  Available from: James C. Nieh

  Dataset: Nieh 2009

  J. C. Nieh
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  Available from: James C. Nieh

  Article: A stingless bee can use visual odometry to estimate both height and distance.

  M A Eckles, D W Roubik, J C Nieh
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  ABSTRACT: Bees move and forage within three dimensions and rely heavily on vision for navigation. The use of vision-based odometry has been studied extensively in horizontal distance measurement, but not vertical distance measurement. The honey bee Apis mellifera and the stingless bee Melipona seminigra measure distance visually using optic flow-movement of images as they pass across the retina. The honey bees gauge height using image motion in the ventral visual field. The stingless bees forage at different tropical forest canopy levels, ranging up to 40 m at our site. Thus, estimating height would be advantageous. We provide the first evidence that the stingless bee Melipona panamica utilizes optic flow information to gauge not only distance traveled but also height above ground, by processing information primarily from the lateral visual field. After training bees to forage at a set height in a vertical tunnel lined with black and white stripes, we observed foragers that explored a new tunnel with no feeder. In a new tunnel, bees searched at the same height they were trained to. In a narrower tunnel, bees experienced more image motion and significantly lowered their search height. In a wider tunnel, bees experienced less image motion and searched at significantly greater heights. In a tunnel without optic cues, bees were disoriented and searched at random heights. A horizontal tunnel testing these variables similarly affected foraging, but bees exhibited less precision (greater variance in search positions). Accurately gauging flight height above ground may be crucial for this species and others that compete for resources located at heights ranging from ground level to the high tropical forest canopies.
  Journal of Experimental Biology 09/2012; 215(Pt 18):3155-60. · 3.00 Impact Factor
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  Available from: James C. Nieh

  Article: Editorial Hymenopteran Collective Foraging and Information Transfer about Resources 2012

  F A L Contrera, M J Couvillon, J C Nieh
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  ABSTRACT: Foraging in social insects is a complex behavior, as it must balance the decisions made by individual foragers, which typically have limited information, against overall colony needs and the unpredictability of a changing environment. Even solitary insects must deal with the changing spatial and temporal availability of resources. Thus, social and solitary insects have evolved different foraging strategies, some of them studied in this special volume. The studies are divided in three sections: (1) the role of different types of information on nestmate activation during foraging (2) the role of recruitment and interference competition on foraging, and (3) the role of bee behaviors relevant for effective pollination.
  Psyche 01/2012; 2012(Article ID 273985):1-2. · 0.37 Impact Factor
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  Available from: James C. Nieh

  Dataset: Eiri Journal of Experimental Biology 2012

  Daren M Eiri, James C Nieh
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  Available from: James C. Nieh

  Article: Individual lifetime pollen and nectar foraging preferences in bumble bees.

  Jessica Hagbery, James C Nieh
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  ABSTRACT: Foraging specialization plays an important role in the ability of social insects to efficiently allocate labor. However, relatively little is known about the degree to which individual bumble bees specialize on collecting nectar or pollen, when such preferences manifest, and if individuals can alter their foraging preferences in response to changes in the colony workforce. Using Bombus impatiens, we monitored all foraging visits made by every bee in multiple colonies and showed that individual foragers exhibit consistent lifetime foraging preferences. Based upon the distribution of foraging preferences, we defined three forager types (pollen specialists, nectar specialists, and generalists). In unmanipulated colonies, 16-36 % of individuals specialized (≥90 % of visits) on nectar or pollen only. On its first day of foraging, an individual's foraging choices (nectar only, pollen only, or nectar and pollen) significantly predicted its lifetime foraging preferences. Foragers that only collected pollen on their first day of foraging made 1.61- to 1.67-fold more lifetime pollen foraging visits (as a proportion of total trips) than foragers that only collected nectar on their first foraging day. Foragers were significantly larger than bees that stayed only in the nest. We also determined the effect of removing pollen specialists at early (brood present) or later (brood absent) stages in colony life. These results suggest that generalists can alter their foraging preferences in response to the loss of a small subset of foragers. Thus, bumble bees exhibit individual lifetime foraging preferences that are established early in life, but generalists may be able to adapt to colony needs.
  Naturwissenschaften 09/2012; 99(10):821-32. · 2.28 Impact Factor