Miscalibration of simulations: A comment on Luebbert and Pachter: 'Miscalibration of the honeybee odometer' arXiv:2405.12998v1

Abstract

In this commentary I review the claim by Luebbert and Pachter (arXiv:2405.12998v1) that the reported R-Squared value in Srinivasan et al. (Science, 287(5454):851-853, 2000), describing the relationship between distance to a food source and mean waggle duration of honeybee dances, was too high to be consistent with the reported means and standard deviations in the latter study. There is one serious limitation of the simulations conducted by Luebbert and Pachter, and two flaws that compromise their findings. The reported R-squared value of Srinivasan. et al. is within the expected range, as far as that can be determined given the limitations of the available data.