Thomas D. Seeley

Honeybees make decisions collectively--and democratically. Every year, faced with the life-or-death problem of choosing and traveling to a new home, honeybees stake everything on a process that includes collective fact-finding, vigorous debate, and consensus building. In fact, as world-renowned animal behaviorist Thomas Seeley reveals, these incredible insects have much to teach us when it comes to collective wisdom and effective decision making. A remarkable and richly illustrated account of scientific discovery, Honeybee Democracy brings together, for the first time, decades of Seeley's pioneering research to tell the amazing story of house hunting and democratic debate among the honeybees. In the late spring and early summer, as a bee colony becomes overcrowded, a third of the hive stays behind and rears a new queen, while a swarm of thousands departs with the old queen to produce a daughter colony. Seeley describes how these bees evaluate potential nest sites, advertise their discoveries to one another, engage in open deliberation, choose a final site, and navigate together--as a swirling cloud of bees--to their new home. Seeley investigates how evolution has honed the decision-making methods of honeybees over millions of years, and he considers similarities between the ways that bee swarms and primate brains process information. He concludes that what works well for bees can also work well for people: any decision-making group should consist of individuals with shared interests and mutual respect, a leader's influence should be minimized, debate should be relied upon, diverse solutions should be sought, and the majority should be counted on for a dependable resolution. An impressive exploration of animal behavior, Honeybee Democracy shows that decision-making groups, whether honeybee or human, can be smarter than even the smartest individuals in them.

Honeybee Democracy

How the lives of wild honey bees offer vital lessons for saving the world’s managed bee colonies Humans have kept honey bees in hives for millennia, yet only in recent decades have biologists begun to investigate how these industrious insects live in the wild. The Lives of Bees is Thomas Seeley’s captivating story of what scientists are learning about the behavior, social life, and survival strategies of honey bees living outside the beekeeper’s hive—and how wild honey bees may hold the key to reversing the alarming die-off of the planet’s managed honey bee populations. Seeley, a world authority on honey bees, sheds light on why wild honey bees are still thriving while those living in managed colonies are in crisis. Drawing on the latest science as well as insights from his own pioneering fieldwork, he describes in extraordinary detail how honey bees live in nature and shows how this differs significantly from their lives under the management of beekeepers. Seeley presents an entirely new approach to beekeeping—Darwinian Beekeeping—which enables honey bees to use the toolkit of survival skills their species has acquired over the past thirty million years, and to evolve solutions to the new challenges they face today. He shows beekeepers how to use the principles of natural selection to guide their practices, and he offers a new vision of how beekeeping can better align with the natural habits of honey bees. Engagingly written and deeply personal, The Lives of Bees reveals how we can become better custodians of honey bees and make use of their resources in ways that enrich their lives as well as our own.

The Untold Story of the Honey Bee in the Wild

The Lives of Bees

A how-to book on an exhilarating outdoor activity and a unique meditation on the pleasures of the natural world Following the Wild Bees is a delightful foray into the pastime of bee hunting, an exhilarating outdoor activity that used to be practiced widely but which few people know about today. Thomas Seeley, a world authority on honey bees, vividly describes the history and science behind this lost pastime and how anyone can do it. Following the Wild Bees is both a unique meditation on the pleasures of the natural world and a guide to the ingenious methods that compose the craft of the bee hunter. Seeley explains how one finds a patch of flowers humming with honey bees, captures and sumptuously feeds the bees, and then releases and follows them, step-by-step in whatever direction they fly, back to their secret residence in a hollow tree, old building, or abandoned hive. The bee hunter's reward is a thrilling encounter with nature that challenges mind and body while also giving new insights into the remarkable behavior of honey bees living in the wild. Drawing on decades of experience as a bee hunter and bee biologist, Seeley weaves informative discussions of the biology of wild honey bees with colorful historical anecdotes, personal insights, and beautiful photos. Whether you're a bee enthusiast or just curious about the natural world, Following the Wild Bees is the ideal companion for newcomers to bee hunting and a rare treat for armchair naturalists.

The Craft and Science of Bee Hunting

Following the Wild Bees

Studies of animal behavior have often been invoked to help explain and even guide human behavior. Think of Pavlov and his dogs or Goodall and her chimps. But, as these examples indicate, the tendency has been to focus on "higher," more cognitively developed, and thus, it is thought, more intelligent creatures than mindless, robotic insects. Not so! Learn here how honeybees work together to form a collective intelligence and even how they make decisions democratically. The wizzzzdom of crowds indeed! Here are five habits of effective groups that we can learn from these clever honeybees. Princeton Shorts are brief selections excerpted from influential Princeton University Press publications produced exclusively in eBook format. They are selected with the firm belief that while the original work remains an important and enduring product, sometimes we can all benefit from a quick take on a topic worthy of a longer book. In a world where every second counts, how better to stay up-to speed on current events and digest the kernels of wisdom found in the great works of the past? Princeton Shorts enables you to be an instant expert in a world where information is everywhere but quality is at a premium. The Five Habits of Highly Effective Honeybees (and What We Can Learn from Them) does just that.

From Honeybee Democracy

The Five Habits of Highly Effective Honeybees (and What We Can Learn from Them)

"Thomas Seeley has spent his career unraveling the mysteries of honey bee behavior. His goal has been to understand how the 30,000 or so bees in a colony work together as a unit to accomplish such things as finding and occupying a snug nest cavity, furnishing it with beeswax combs, filling these combs with brood and food, and keeping themselves well nourished, comfortably warm, and safe from intruders. In this book, Seeley's goal is to illuminate these and other mysteries about the workings of honey bee colonies and explore how those mysteries were solved. Seeley's aim, as he says, is to review how and what he and his colleagues have learned about honey bees and to share some things that are not in the scientific papers: the personal experiences that drew him to these studies, the little observations that led to important insights, and the feelings of delight that came with solving each mystery. The book's thirty chapters are roughly chronological, offering a meta-history of the field alongside explication of various studies. Each chapter is structured approximately the same way: first, Seeley describes how he and his colleagues discovered a specific mystery about how a colony works, then how they solved it, and finally each closes with an explanation of the implications of the mystery and the way it fits into the wider field of honey bee research. Intimate and informative, PIPING HOT BEES AND BOISTEROUS BUZZ-RUNNERS will weave together personal narrative with the results of over 50 years of research into honey bees and honey bee colonies. It will offer context for more current research and introduce readers to the deep workings of honey bee behavior"--

20 Mysteries of Honey Bee Behavior Solved

Piping Hot Bees and Boisterous Buzz-Runners

In seinem neuen Buch ›Auf der Spur der wilden Bienen‹ beschreibt der renommierte Bienen-Experte Thomas D. Seeley, wie sich der Mensch über Jahrtausende auf die Spuren wilder Bienen machte, um ihren Honig zu erbeuten. Erst die Erfindung der Bienenstöcke machte diese Jagd überflüssig. Doch zunehmend mehr Menschen schätzen diese traditionsreiche Beschäftigung, die großes Geschick erfordert und Einblick in das Leben der Bienen ermöglicht, ohne ihnen Schaden zuzufügen. In seinem neuen, reich bebilderten Buch erzählt Seeley von der aufregenden Jagd nach Honig, gibt Tipps und erklärt liebevoll die Hintergründe dieser alten Kulturtechnik. Entstanden ist sowohl eine anekdotenreiche Kulturgeschichte der Biene als auch ein Leitfaden der Zeidlerei – geschrieben mit großem Charme von einem, der seine Bienen wahrhaftig kennt und liebt. »Originell, authentisch, anregend: Dieses Buch ist Wissenschaft, Geschichte, Abenteuer und Schatzsuche zugleich.« Edward O. Wilson

Auf der Spur der wilden Bienen

A how-to book on an exhilarating outdoor activity and a unique meditation on the pleasures of the natural world Following the Wild Bees is a delightful foray into the pastime of bee hunting, an exhilarating outdoor activity that used to be practiced widely but which few people know about today. Weaving informative discussions of bee biology with colorful anecdotes, personal insights, and beautiful photos, Thomas Seeley describes the history and science behind this lost pastime and how anyone can do it. The bee hunter’s reward is a thrilling encounter with nature that challenges mind and body while also giving insights into the remarkable behavior of honey bees living in the wild. Whether you’re a bee enthusiast or just curious about the natural world, this book is the ideal companion for newcomers to bee hunting and a rare treat for armchair naturalists.

Les abeilles prennent des décisions collectivement – et démocratiquement. Chaque année, elles se trouvent devant une question de vie ou de mort – celle du choix et du déplacement vers un nouveau nid. Thomas D. Seeley nous révèle les capacités incroyables de ces insectes à prendre des décisions consensuelles et efficaces. Il nous donne à voir une démocratie participative à l’œuvre et son bénéfice au niveau de la réussite de l’espèce.

Un modèle de société

La démocratie chez les abeilles

The book presents honeybees as a model system for investigating advanced social life among insects from an evolutionary perspective. Originally published in 1985. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Thomas D. Seeley

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