Data from: Copy-when-uncertain: bumblebees rely on social information when rewards are highly variable

Social learning provides filtered information for foraging animals and should be preferred to personal exploration. However, in nature animals use both social and personal information. In order to better understand information use, we developed an agent-based model of social learning that predicts social information should be more adaptive where resources are highly variable and personal information where resources vary little. We then tested our predictions with foraging bumblebees provided with social cues; foragers relied more on social information when resources were variable, than when they were not. We then investigated whether socially salient cues are used preferentially over non-social ones in variable environments. Although bees clearly used social cues in highly variable environments, under the same conditions they did not use non-social cues. These results suggest that bumblebees use a “copy-when-uncertain” strategy.