Propagation of olfactory information within the honeybee hive

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Version: author
Serval ID
serval:BIB_53C97EB06300
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Title
Propagation of olfactory information within the honeybee hive
Journal
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
Author(s)
Grüter C., Acosta L.E., Farina W.M.
ISSN
1432-0762 (Electronic)
ISSN-L
0340-5443 (Print)
Publication state
Published
Issued date
2006
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
60
Number
5
Pages
707-715
Language
english
Abstract
Transfer of information about food source characteristics within insect societies is essential to colony-foraging success. The food odor communicated within honeybee hives has been shown to be important for food source exploitation. When successful foragers return to the nest and transfer the collected nectar to hive mates through mouth-to-mouth contacts (trophallaxis), potential recruits receiving these samples learn the food odor by associative learning. The food then becomes rapidly distributed among colony members, which is mainly a consequence of the numerous trophallaxes between hive-mates of all ages during food processing. We tested whether the distribution of food among hive mates causes a propagation of olfactory information within the hive. Using the proboscis extension response paradigm, we show that large proportions of bees of the age groups representing the main worker castes, 4 to 9-day-old bees (nurse-aged bees), 12 to 16-day-old bees (food processor-aged bees), and actual foragers (about 17+ day old bees) associatively learn the food odor in the course of processing food that has been collected by only a few foragers. Results further suggest that the information is shared more or less equally between bees of the three age groups. This shows that olfactory information about the flower species exploited by foragers is distributed within the entire colony and is acquired by bees of all age groups, which may influence many behaviors inside and outside the hive.
Keywords
Apis mellifera, proboscis extension reflex, information propagation, trophallaxis, olfactory learning
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Create date
21/02/2014 11:04
Last modification date
20/08/2019 15:08
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