Population rhythms: the case of stingless bee colonies

Abstract

Stingless bees are eusocial hymenopteran and the colony is the biological unit of the species. Different castes (queen, drones and workers) are present in the colony that may be considered a superorganism since isolated individuals do not survive. The colony shows a spatial organization, given by its architecture, characteristic of each species, and a temporal organization, established by sequences of processes and behaviours repeated at regular intervals, equally species-specific. In the same colony several rhythms can be detected both in individuals and in the colony altogether. The properties of these rhythms may be different but phase relations are established among them, originating a general rhythmic expression, consequence of the internal temporal order of the colony. As is the case with metazoan organisms, the establishment of the internal temporal order assures the super-organism survival