Effects of cold immobilization and recovery period on honeybee learning, memory, and responsiveness to sucrose

Frost, Elisabeth H.; Shutler, Dave; Hillier, N. Kirk

doi:10.1016/j.jinsphys.2011.07.001

Cited by 35 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 84 publications

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“…This variation may be a result of a plethora of things including increased exposure during foraging to volatile geraniol produced by flowers (Gerber et al, 1996;Arenas et al, 2007), or fluctuations in octopamine levels (Harris and Woodring, 1992). Each of these may also explain apparent satiation observed here but not in Frost et al (Frost et al, 2011).…”

Section: Spontaneous and Delayed Responsesmentioning

confidence: 66%

“…Responses began to wane after the fourth trial in all treatments (Fig.1), suggesting satiation, antifeedant effects or just poor health, although this same protocol did not previously produce this result (Frost et al, 2011). In any case, the more important result is consistency among treatments.…”

Section: Learning: Conditioning Trialsmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…Approximately 45-50 honey bees (Buckfast strain) were collected for testing on days when experiments were being run. Honey bees were collected at approximately 09:00h from entrances of colonies in Coldbrook, Nova Scotia, Canada (45°02′N, 64°33′W), in ventilated plastic vials and transported to Acadia University where they were cooled in a -18°C freezer until immobile (~2.5min) (Frost et al, 2011). Once immobile, they could be safely restrained in plastic 1000μl pipette tips, leaving only their heads free.…”

Section: Honey Bee Collection and Immobilizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of fluvalinate on honey bee learning, memory, responsiveness to sucrose, and survival

Frost

Shutler

Hillier

2013

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARYContaminants can affect organisms' behaviour and, as a consequence, survival. Tau-fluvalinate (hereafter fluvalinate) is the active ingredient in a pesticide commonly used in North America to control Varroa destructor mites in honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies. Fluvalinate's effects on honey bees are not well known. Honey bee cognitive and neural function can be assessed using the proboscis extension reflex (PER), which applies Pavlovian conditioning techniques. This study used PER to evaluate effects of fluvalinate on honey bee acquisition learning, (long-term) memory recall, responsiveness to sucrose, and mortality. We also evaluated how exclusion criteria for honey bees that did not exhibit PER during training and memory trials affected interpretation of results. Fluvalinate was administered both orally and dermally at high and low doses to mimic routes by which honey bees are exposed. We found negative effects of fluvalinate on honey bee learning, memory, responsiveness to sucrose, and survival, especially in high oral doses. We also found significant consequences to interpretation of results using different exclusion criteria. For example, almost 50% of individuals that failed to show evidence of learning subsequently showed evidence of memory. The latter results have important implications regarding traditional assessment of PER-based learning and memory; the former results suggest that evaluation of honey bee exposure to fluvalinate and attendant consequences warrants further investigation.

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Section: Spontaneous and Delayed Responsesmentioning

confidence: 66%

Section: Learning: Conditioning Trialsmentioning

confidence: 82%

Section: Honey Bee Collection and Immobilizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of fluvalinate on honey bee learning, memory, responsiveness to sucrose, and survival

Frost

Shutler

Hillier

2013

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…Cooling time should be kept to a minimum as extended cooling could impair learning performances (Frost et al, 2011) and survival in the harness.…”

Section: Catching Beesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Revisiting olfactory classical conditioning of the proboscis extension response in honey bees: A step toward standardized procedures

Matsumoto

Menzel

Sandoz

et al. 2012

Journal of Neuroscience Methods

215

235

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“…Since elevated stress levels impact learning performance negatively in honeybees (Frost et al 2011), this might also be the case in stingless bees (Roselino and Hrncir 2012). Neither M. bocandei or M. ferruginea are aggressive species; therefore, we waived chilling the bees before harnessing to reduce individual stress levels.…”

Section: Conditioning Of the Proboscis Extension Reflexmentioning

confidence: 99%

Olfactory associative learning in two African stingless bee species (Meliponula ferruginea and M. bocandei, Meliponini)

et al. 2015

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Worldwide only a few of the more than 500 stingless bee species has been studied in any detail. Most studies on stingless bees have been conducted in the Neotropics, whereas a very few have been undertaken in Africa. Foraging success is dependent to a greater or lesser extent on olfactory cues or signals. A prerequisite to effective foraging via odors is that the bees are able to associate odors with a nectar reward and memorize this information. In the context of olfactory learning, only five species of stingless bees have been studied using classical conditioning of the proboscis extension reflex (PER). Foragers are capable of using previously experienced olfactory information when choosing food sources, but they rarely respond in differential PER assays. This study examines for the first time the olfactory learning abilities of African stingless bees. A differential conditioning assay was used to study learning and memory of Meliponula ferruginea and Meliponula bocandei. Our results clearly show that both stingless bee species associate odors with a reward. Learning performance of both stingless bee species was poor compared to Apis m. scutellata. This might reflect that the experimental procedure has been optimized for Apis mellifera. However, the PER paradigm seems to be suitable to study learning, memory, and olfactory perception in Meliponula. As in honeybees, this paradigm will open the way to answer ecological, psychological, and neurobiological questions in these species.

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Effects of cold immobilization and recovery period on honeybee learning, memory, and responsiveness to sucrose

Cited by 35 publications

References 84 publications

Effects of fluvalinate on honey bee learning, memory, responsiveness to sucrose, and survival

Effects of fluvalinate on honey bee learning, memory, responsiveness to sucrose, and survival

Revisiting olfactory classical conditioning of the proboscis extension response in honey bees: A step toward standardized procedures

Olfactory associative learning in two African stingless bee species (Meliponula ferruginea and M. bocandei, Meliponini)

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