The effect of foraging specialization on various learning tasks in the honey bee (Apis mellifera)

Drezner-Levy, Tamar; Smith, Brian H.; Shafir, Sharoni

doi:10.1007/s00265-009-0829-z

Cited by 28 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Associative learning experiments were performed according to our standard proboscis extension response (PER) protocols (27)(28)(29). Thirty-five bees were taken from every hive each day of the experiment, 6 wk after the beginning of diet feeding.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Omega-3 deficiency impairs honey bee learning

Arien

Dag

Zarchin

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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147

123

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Deficiency in essential omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), particularly the long-chain form of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), has been linked to health problems in mammals, including many mental disorders and reduced cognitive performance. Insects have very low long-chain PUFA concentrations, and the effect of omega-3 deficiency on cognition in insects has not been studied. We show a low omega-6:3 ratio of pollen collected by honey bee colonies in heterogenous landscapes and in many hand-collected pollens that we analyzed. We identified Eucalyptus as an important bee-forage plant particularly poor in omega-3 and high in the omega-6:3 ratio. We tested the effect of dietary omega-3 deficiency on olfactory and tactile associative learning of the economically highly valued honey bee. Bees fed either of two omega-3-poor diets, or Eucalyptus pollen, showed greatly reduced learning abilities in conditioned proboscis-extension assays compared with those fed omega-3-rich diets, or omega-3-rich pollen mixture. The effect on performance was not due to reduced sucrose sensitivity. Omega-3 deficiency also led to smaller hypopharyngeal glands. Bee brains contained high omega-3 concentrations, which were only slightly affected by diet, suggesting additional peripheral effects on learning. The shift from a low to high omega-6:3 ratio in the Western human diet is deemed a primary cause of many diseases and reduced mental health. A similar shift seems to be occurring in bee forage, possibly an important factor in colony declines. Our study shows the detrimental effect on cognitive performance of omega-3 deficiency in a nonmammal.fatty acids | alpha-linolenic acid | Apis mellifera | associative conditioning | proboscis extension response

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Omega-3 deficiency impairs honey bee learning

Arien

Dag

Zarchin

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

Self Cite

147

123

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“…Pollen and water foraging are correlated with a low sucrose response threshold, and nectar foraging is associated with a higher sucrose response threshold (Page and Fondrk, 1995;Pankiw and Page, 2000). Empty foragers, bees that return without pollen or nectar, have high sucrose response thresholds (Drezner-Levy et al, 2009). Pankiw and Page reported such 'finicky foragers' had even lower SR than bees bringing back nectar (Pankiw and Page, 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonist affects honey bee sucrose responsiveness and decreases waggle dancing

Eiri

Nieh

2012

Journal of Experimental Biology

105

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There was an error published in J. Exp. Biol. 215, 2022-2029 In the final sentence of paragraph 4 of 'Effects on SR' in the Results section, the total number of proboscis extensions is given, rather than percentages. The correct sentence is published below.On average, control nectar foragers had a lower mean total PER bee −1 (4.1±2.3 responses) than control pollen foragers (4.8±2.1 responses).The authors apologise for any confusion this may have caused. 2081

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“…Bitterman et al, 1983;Gil and De Marco, 2005;Latshaw and Smith, 2005). However, after conditioning trials are complete, some researchers also discriminate among honey bees based on their PER responses (Smith and Cobey, 1994;Chandra et al, 2000;Latshaw and Smith, 2005;Drezner-Levy et al, 2009). For example, to reduce experimental variation, Scheiner et al (Scheiner et al, 2003) recommended retaining only honey bees that show the same level of sucrose responsiveness.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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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The effect of foraging specialization on various learning tasks in the honey bee (Apis mellifera)

Cited by 28 publications

References 46 publications

Omega-3 deficiency impairs honey bee learning

Omega-3 deficiency impairs honey bee learning

A nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonist affects honey bee sucrose responsiveness and decreases waggle dancing

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

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