Hymenopteran group foraging and information transfer about resources

Hymenopteran communication about the location and quality of food sources and other resources such as building materials and potential nesting sites has been a topic of intense research and interest in biology. Recent advances show that some hymenopteran species (ants, bees, and wasps) can stimulate nestmates to forage, communicate food source location, and exploit it efficiently through the use of several mechanisms, such as visual local enhancement, scent trails, and the waggle dance of Apis spp., and by more subtle methods, like eavesdropping (the interception of signals intended for other receivers), which allows the detection of the location of valuable food sources discovered by other colonies or the detection of potential competitors visiting the desired food source. By knowing the mechanisms and the patterns of collective foraging within the Hymenoptera, we may reach a deeper understanding of their ecology and the important role they play as pollinators (bees, ants, and wasps) and predators (ants and wasps). We invite investigators to contribute both original research and review articles that will stimulate continuing efforts to understand the patterns of collective foraging and resource communication in the several groups that comprise the Hymenoptera. We are interested in papers that improve our understanding of the task partitioning in foraging, mechanisms used to communicate the resource location, how individuals can transfer information about resources to nestmates, how foragers deal with exploitation by competitors, and other current topics in collective foraging. Potential topics include, but are not limited to: The implications of the waggle dance and other dances for resource exploitation in Apis spp. The spatial-temporal characteristics of scent trailsSounds and vibrations as mediators of food source communication in bees and wasps Mechanisms used by hymenopterans to collectively explore a food source Economics of social foraging behaviorMechanisms used by hymenopterans to collectively select and occupy a nesting site Evolution of nesting structure to fit communication modalities Task partitioning in the collective foraging in Hymenoptera Novel methodologies to study collective foraging and food source communication How prior experience or learning, or both, might affect communication The interaction between communication and the environment (i.e., why is one communication mode favored or adaptive in one environment but not in another)