Laboratory studies examining aspects of scent marking, traplining and remote detection of reward in the foraging bumblebee.
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Energy from food is essential for the survival of all animals. For decades,
bumblebees have been used as model organisms for studying animal foraging
strategies. Here, I use bumblebees to examine two foraging strategies: scent
marking and traplining. I find that experience and long term memory play an
important role in both of these strategies.
I show that bees interpret scent marks differently depending on context. They
learn to rely on these scent marks to different degrees depending on flower handling
time. Bees also learn to associate the same scent marks with high and low
rewarding food, which means the same scent promotes and suppresses acceptance
of flowers. Contrary to previous speculation, I find that these scent marks are not
pheromonal signals specifically evolved to play a role in foraging. Rather they are
incidental cues that bees learn to use to improve foraging performance and locate
their nesting sites.
Experience is also important in developing repeatable stable routes between
food sites i. e. traplines. I show that bees required long term spatial memory to
gradually form traplines. They reduced their travel distance by linking near neighbour
flowers, which did not result in using the shortest routes. Traplining bees were also
less likely to revisit emptied flowers and spent less time searching for these flowers.
For decades, scientists have used water to control for remote effects of
sucrose solution in experiments. I find that bees are able to detect the difference
between these two liquids without contact chemoreception. The exact cue they use
remains to be determined, but it is not humidity.
Authors
Saleh, NehalCollections
- Theses [3834]