What currency do bumble bees maximize?

Abstract

In modelling bumble bee foraging, net rate of energetic intake has been suggested as the appropriate currency. The foraging behaviour of honey bees is better predicted by using efficiency, the ratio of energetic gain to expenditure, as the currency. We re-analyse several studies of bumble bee foraging and show that efficiency is as good a currency as net rate in terms of predicting behaviour. We suggest that future studies of the foraging of bumble bees should be designed to distinguish between net rate and efficiency maximizing behaviour in an attempt to discover which is the more appropriate currency. © 2010 Charlton, Houston.