Overview Academic/Research Interest Areas

Honey bee behavior

Recent Projects and Results

The research in my lab focuses on two main aspects of honey bee behavior. A major emphasis in my lab is on the communication signals that regulate and adjust colony activities in response to changing conditions. Two communication signals are examined.

First, we explore how the waggle dance is used to regulate colony-level foraging activity and movement. We use waggle dance activity to map spatial foraging patterns and determine how these patterns change with changing colony food needs. We also use the waggle dance to investigate movement patterns when colonies undergo reproductive swarming and seasonal migration.

Second, we study the role of the vibration signal in regulating cooperative activities within colonies. We have determined that the signal functions as a type of modulatory communication signal that causes a non-specific increase in activity. This, in turn, enhances many different behaviors, including foraging, brood care, swarming, house-hunting, queen behavior, and queen rearing. The vibration signal may therefore play a major role in coordinating multiple colony activities.

A second emphasis in my lab is on the biology and behavior of the African honey bee, Apis mellifera scutellata. The African bee was introduced into South America in the 1950s and has become a major threat to beekeeping and agriculture in many parts of the Neotropics. Our work focuses on the nesting biology, foraging behavior, defensive behavior, swarming and migratory movements of the bee in both Africa and Latin America. We are determining the factors that have contributed to the rapid spread of the African bee in the new world. We also are examining if the behavior of the bee in Latin America differs from that in its native African environment. Most recently, we have begun to explore the survival and success of European-African hybrid colonies, because hybridization is at the heart of most programs designed to manage the African honey bee in the new world.

Recent Publications

Duong, N, SS Schneider. 2008. Intra-patriline variability in the performance of the vibration signal and waggle dance in the honey bee, Apis mellifera. Ethology (in press).

Lewis, LA, SS Schneider. 2008. "Migration dances" in swarming colonies of the honey bee, Apis mellifera. Apidologie (in press).

Schneider, SS, G DeGrandi-Hoffman, D Tarpy, D Smith. 2008. The African honey bee in the Americas. African Beekeeping Quarterly (in press).

Schneider, SS, G DeGrandi-Hoffman. 2008. Queen replacement in African and European honey bee colonies with and without afterswarms. Insectes Sociaux 55: 79-85.

Schneider S. 2007. Migration Dance; Vibration Signal. In: (H Shimanuki, K Flottum and A Harman, eds.) The ABC & XYZ of Bee Culture  41st ed. pp. 183-184.

Schneider S. 2007. Vibration signals and the organization of labour in honey bee colonies. Bee Craft 89 (7): 14-19.

Educational Background

B.S., Biology, Texas State University, 1975

M.S., Biology, Texas State University, 1978

Ph.D., Animal Behavior, University of California at Davis, 1984