Shift work dynamics and division of labor: honeybee foraging and fanning tasks

In complex societies common social needs such as vigilance, care giving, resource gathering, and production are attended around the clock. In humans, these services are constantly provided using a shift work strategy where different individuals, or groups of individuals perform their tasks at different times of the day. However, shift work strategy in job organization in other social organisms remains unclear. Previous studies in honeybees for two jobs support shift work for only pollen foragers and not for nursing behavior. Here we examined shift work dynamics for three types of jobs performed by honeybee foragers. Specifically, we studied pollen foragers, non-pollen foragers and bees fanning at the entrance of the colony, a job important for orientation and temperature control. Major features of the observed shift work were: 1) individuals can be divided into early and late shifts; 2) there are constant workers; 3) based on job, shift work is performed by fewer or greater number of individuals; 4) shift work of an individual is plastic and may change with age; 5) foraging and fanning shifts are coupled yet dissociable. This study adds to the findings that shift work is not exclusive to modern human societies and that a natural form of shift work exists in honeybees. These results suggest that shift work in honeybees is a feature of worker division of labor. Future studies aiming to further understand the structure, function and mechanism of this natural form of shift work in honey bees not only could have an impact on agriculture but also may provide insight into alternative forms of shift work strategies that may reduce the various health problems associated with shift work in humans.