Floral scents experienced within the colony affect long-term foraging preferences in honeybees

Abstract

To cite this version:Andrés Arenas, Vanesa M. Fernández, Walter M. Farina. Floral scents experienced within the colony affect long-term foraging preferences in honeybees. Apidologie, Springer Verlag, 2008, 39 (6) Abstract -Food scents circulating inside beehives influence foraging preferences in the field. However, the persistence and nature of the prior experience that lead to this biased response remain unknown. To determine how long honeybees show a food preference after experiencing a scented food inside the colony, we offered sugar solution scented into beehives. After all the combs of the experimental colonies were replaced, the landing responses of foragers were quantified in a two-scented-feeder situation outside the colony. We also tested whether bees exposed to a volatile compound inside the hive preferred a feeder scented with this odor to an unscented one. Results support the conclusion that the offering of a scented food enhanced the bias to this odor, whereas the volatile compound exposure caused a reduced landing response towards the scented option. These results suggest that olfactory experiences occurring within the beehive can promote changes in foraging preferences for several days.Apis mellifera / honeybee / olfactory learning / long-term memory / foraging choice

The recruiter's excitement – features of thoracic vibrations during the honey bee's waggle dance related to food source profitability

“…Colony H2 (2009, ~2000 adult individuals) was kept in a one-frame observation hive. The observation hives were set up in a flight chamber (6ϫ3ϫ2m 3 ) (see Arenas et al, 2008), which prevented potential interference from other bee colonies during the recordings. One lateral side of the flight chamber remained open so that foraging in the surrounding environment was not restricted.…”

Learning through the waste: olfactory cues from the colony refuse influence plant preferences in foraging leaf-cutting ants

“…In nectar feeders, olfactory information about the food sources is propagated during the distribution of the nectar within the colony (in honey bees: Pankiw et al, 2004;Grüter et al, 2006;in Camponotus ants: Provecho and Josens, 2009). In honey bees, social sharing of scented food allows other foragers and even workers not directly involved in foraging tasks to obtain information from individuals that actively participate in resource exploitation (Arenas et al, 2007(Arenas et al, , 2008. Here, we demonstrated that odours of host plants learned through the waste can also be used by foragers when making decisions outside of the nest.…”

Odor learning and odor discrimination of bees selected for enhanced hygienic behavior

“…However, in the social environment of the hive, bees learn odors from each other, e.g., by trophallactic transfer of scented nectar (Arenas et al 2008;Farina et al 2005Farina et al , 2007Gil and De Marco 2005) and during dance communication (Grüter and Farina 2009). Hence, reduction in learning found in our study might be a specific effect of colony odor on the learning of sting pheromone odor IAA.…”