Editing Bee learning and communication (section)

====Primer pheromones====
{{for|more background on this topic|List of honey bee pheromones}}

Research that was published in November 2004, by scientists under the leadership of [[Zachary Huang]], [[Michigan State University]] indicates that so called primer [[pheromone]]s play an important part in how a honey bee [[colony (biology)|colony]] adjusts its distribution of labor most beneficially.  In order to survive as a bee colony of sometimes 50,000–100,000 individual bees, the communal structure has to be adaptable to seasonal changes and the availability of food.  The division of labor has to adjust itself to the resources available from foraging.  While the division of labor in a bee colony is quite complex, the work can be roughly seen as work inside the hive and outside the hive.  Younger bees play a role inside the hive while older bees play a role outside the hive mostly as [[foraging|foragers]].  Huang's team found that forager bees gather and carry a chemical called [[ethyl oleate]] in the stomach.  The forager bees feed this primer pheromone to the worker bees, and the chemical keeps them in a nurse bee state.  The pheromone prevents the nurse bees from maturing too early to become forager bees.  As forager bees die off, less of the ethyl oleate is available and nurse bees more quickly mature to become foragers.  It appears that this control system is an example of decentralized decision making in the bee colony.

Other bees like ''[[Trigona corvina]]'' rely on pheromones for much of their communication with nest mates and rivals.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Boogert |first1=Neeltje Janna |last2=Hofstede |first2=Frouke Elisabeth |last3=Monge |first3=Ingrid Aguilar |date=2006-05-01 |title=The use of food source scent marks by the stingless bee Trigona corvina (Hymenoptera: Apidae): the importance of the depositor's identity |journal=Apidologie |language=en |volume=37 |issue=3 |pages=366–375 |doi=10.1051/apido:2006001 |s2cid=4873234 |issn=0044-8435|doi-access=free }}</ref> They produce pheromones from their labial glands.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|title = The Trail Pheromone of a Stingless Bee, Trigona corvina (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Meliponini), Varies between Populations|journal = Chemical Senses|date = 2010-09-01|issn = 0379-864X|pmid = 20534775|pages = 593–601|volume = 35|issue = 7|doi = 10.1093/chemse/bjq057|first1 = Stefan|last1 = Jarau|first2 = Jochen|last2 = Dambacher|first3 = Robert|last3 = Twele|first4 = Ingrid|last4 = Aguilar|first5 = Wittko|last5 = Francke|first6 = Manfred|last6 = Ayasse|doi-access = free}}</ref> The function of signaling depends on the profitability, but they commonly will scent mark a food source either for self-orientation, to deter rivals or to direct a nest mate to the resource. Once an individual finds a good food source, they will return to the same source for many days. If an individual detects the scent of a rival bee, they will avoid the plant in order to avoid conflict and to save time.<ref name=":0" /> It has also been shown that pheromones are a method of sexual selection between male drones and queens.<ref name=":1" />