Sign-In
Cart
Spirit of the Hive: The Mechanisms of Social Evolution
Hardcover
ISBN13: 9780674073029
Publisher: Harvard
Published: Jun 17 2013
Pages: 240
Weight: 1.10
Height: 0.70 Width: 6.50 Depth: 9.20
Language: English
Charles Darwin struggled to explain how forty thousand bees working in the dark, seemingly by instinct alone, could organize themselves to construct something as perfect as a honey comb. How do bees accomplish such incredible tasks? Synthesizing the findings of decades of experiments, The Spirit of the Hive presents a comprehensive picture of the genetic and physiological mechanisms underlying the division of labor in honey bee colonies and explains how bees' complex social behavior has evolved over millions of years.
Robert Page, one of the foremost honey bee geneticists in the world, sheds light on how the coordinated activity of hives arises naturally when worker bees respond to stimuli in their environment. The actions they take in turn alter the environment and so change the stimuli for their nestmates. For example, a bee detecting ample stores of pollen in the hive is inhibited from foraging for more, whereas detecting the presence of hungry young larvae will stimulate pollen gathering. Division of labor, Page shows, is an inevitable product of group living, because individual bees vary genetically and physiologically in their sensitivities to stimuli and have different probabilities of encountering and responding to them.
A fascinating window into self-organizing regulatory networks of honey bees, The Spirit of the Hive applies genomics, evolution, and behavior to elucidate the details of social structure and advance our understanding of complex adaptive systems in nature.
Also in
Zoology
The Pig and I: The Tale of Our Relationship with a Beast We Eat
Endresen, Kristoffer Hattleland
Hardcover
National Audubon Society Pocket Guide to Familiar Birds: Eastern Region: Eastern
National Audubon Society
Paperback
The Story of Birds: A New History from Their Dinosaur Origins to the Present
Brusatte, Steve
Hardcover
The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration Into the Wonder of Consciousness
Montgomery, Sy
Paperback
Our Wild Familiars: How Animals Are Adapting to Cities and Reshaping the Natural World
Werb, Dan
Hardcover
Hidden Creatures: Luscious Leeches, Bashful Botflies, and the Wondrous, History-Shaping World of Parasites
Martins, Dino
Hardcover
The Creatures' Guide to Caring: How Animal Parents Teach Us That Humans Were Born to Care
Preston, Elizabeth
Hardcover
A Bird's IQ: Innovation, Intelligence, and Problem Solving in the Avian World
Lefebvre, Louis
Hardcover
Romp!: A Journey Through the Natural History of Otters and Why They Matter
Island, Heide, PhD
Hardcover
National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of the United States and Canada, 8th Edition
Floyd, Ted
Paperback
Outsider Animals: How the Creatures at the Margins of Our Lives Have the Most to Teach Us
Zuk, Marlene
Hardcover
What Sheep Think about the Weather: How to Listen to What Animals Are Trying to Say
Thomas, Amelia
Paperback
Wildlife Anatomy: The Curious Lives & Features of Wild Animals Around the World
Rothman, Julia
Paperback
Tigers Between Empires: The Improbable Return of Great Cats to the Forests of Russia and China
Slaght, Jonathan C.
Hardcover
Yellowstone Wildlife: A Folding Pocket Guide to Familiar Animals of the Yellowstone Area
Kavanagh, James
Other
Lab Dog: A Beagle and His Human Investigate the Surprising World of Animal Research
Kaplan, Melanie D. G.
Hardcover
Adorable Animals (National Geographic Kids Readers, Level 2)
Quattlebaum, Mary
National Geographic Kids
Paperback
Running with Sherman: How a Rescue Donkey Inspired a Rag-Tag Gang of Runners to Enter the Craziest Race in America
McDougall, Christopher
Paperback
Gifts of the Crow: How Perception, Emotion, and Thought Allow Smart Birds to Behave Like Humans
Marzluff, John
Angell, Tony
Paperback
The National Parks Traveler's Companion: A Journal Featuring Bucket Lists, Writing Prompts, and Passport Stamp Logs
Potter Gift
Federman, Rachel
Paperback
Crayfish, Crawfish, Crawdad: The Biology and Conservation of North America's Favorite Crustaceans
Graham, Zackary A.
Paperback
What the Chicken Knows: A New Appreciation of the World's Most Familiar Bird
Montgomery, Sy
Hardcover
Elephants and Their Fossil Relatives: A 60 Million Year Journey
Ferretti, Marco P.
Larramendi, Asier
Hardcover
The Elephant Whisperer: My Life with the Herd in the African Wild
Anthony, Lawrence
Spence, Graham
Paperback
Backyard Birds of North America: A Guide to Identifying and Attracting Your Favorite Birds
O'Sullivan, Daniel
Hardcover
A Year with the Seals: Unlocking the Secrets of the Sea's Most Charismatic and Controversial Creatures
Morris, Alix
Hardcover
East Africa Wildlife: A Folding Pocket Guide to Familiar Species in Kenya, Tanzania & Uganda
Kavanagh, James
Paperback
The Secret Lives of Dinosaurs: Unearthing the Real Behaviors of Prehistoric Animals
Nicholls, Robert
Lomax, Dean R.
Hardcover
A Horse's Life: The Neuroscience of Equine Welfare
McDonald, Crissi
Peters, Stephen
Rashid, Mark
Paperback
Ways of Being: Animals, Plants, Machines: The Search for a Planetary Intelligence
Bridle, James
Paperback
Humanish: What Talking to Your Cat or Naming Your Car Reveals about the Uniquely Human Need to Humanize
Gregg, Justin
Hardcover
The Salmon Cannon and the Levitating Frog: And Other Serious Discoveries of Silly Science
York, Carly Anne
Hardcover
National Geographic the Photo Ark: One Man's Quest to Document the World's Animals
Sartore, Joel
Chadwick, Douglas H.
Hardcover
National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of the United States and Canadaâ "West, 2nd Edition
Floyd, Ted
Paperback
Common Native Bees of the Eastern United States: Your Way to Easily Identify Bees and Look-Alikes
Holm, Heather
Paperback
The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration Into the Wonder of Consciousness
Montgomery, Sy
Hardcover
The Secret Lives of Bats: My Adventures with the World's Most Misunderstood Mammals
Tuttle, Merlin
Paperback
Pacific Coast Bird Finder: Identifying Common Birds Along the Pacific Coast
Lederer, Roger J.
Paperback
The Bird Way: A New Look at How Birds Talk, Work, Play, Parent, and Think
Ackerman, Jennifer
Paperback
National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of the United States and Canadaâ "East, 2nd Edition
Floyd, Ted
Paperback
Wildlife of the Pacific Northwest: Tracking and Identifying Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, Amphibians, and Invertebrates
Moskowitz, David
Paperback
Animal Tracks of the Northeast: Your Way to Easily Identify Animal Tracks
Poppele, Jonathan
Paperback
East Africa Birds: A Folding Pocket Guide to Familiar Species in Kenya, Tanzania & Uganda
Kavanagh, James
Paperback
What the Bears Know: How I Found Truth and Magic in America's Most Misunderstood Creatures--A Memoir by Animal Planet's the Bear Whisperer
Erskine, Chris
Searles, Steve
Paperback
Amazon Animals (National Geographic Kids Readers, Level 3/Fact Reader): 100 Fun Facts about Snakes, Sloths, Spiders, and More
Davidson, Rose
National Geographic Kids
Paperback
The Inner Life of Animals: Love, Grief, and Compassion--Surprising Observations of a Hidden World
Wohlleben, Peter
Paperback
The Handbook Of Nature Study in Color - Fish, Reptiles, Amphibians, Invertebrates
Comstock, Anna
Paperback
Caterpillars of Eastern North America: A Guide to Identification and Natural History
Wagner, David L.
Paperback
Introduction to Animal and Veterinary Anatomy and Physiology
Aspinall, Victoria
Cappello, Melanie
Paperback