Honeybees colony virtual simulation

MIGUELES, M.V.; GENDE L.B.; ARCUSA, J.; GARCIA, A.; CHURIO, M.S.; EGUARAS, M.J.; BRAUNSTEIN, L.A.

Buenos Aires

Congreso; 42º Apimondia; 2011

Honeybee (Apis mellifera) division of labor is classically viewed as a sequence of age-related changes in task performance. Task assignment and division of labor in social groups persist as a key issue in the evolution of behavior. Honeybees have a population dynamics and display a nectar and pollen foraging syndrome that plays an important role in structuring the temporal division of labor within their colonies. The aim of this work was to develop a program model, called BeEp, which asserts a causal relationship between honeybees age, task performance, population and food balance. We used Multi-Agent Models simulation (MAMS) to describe collective phenomena. The behavior of the complete system was directly reproduced by simulating the actions of the individuals. Our simulation was intended to model all the important aspects of a bee’s life inside the hive. This includes individual development from egg to adult and adult performing tasks such as queen and brood tending, storing, retrieving and nectar, honey and pollen distribution as well as communication and foraging. The characterization of the simulation model was based on considering the surroundings, life evolution of each honeybee in order to observe, under this concept, the evolution of the colony. We have simulated honeybee’s colony of 640 individuals in 4 frames for the term of 365 days, maintaining nutrition and population balance. This simulation model of honeybee colony can be used in the study of beekeeping epidemics and production.