scholarly journals Do honey bee species differ in the odometer used for the waggle dance?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ebi Antony George ◽  
Neethu Thulasi ◽  
Patrick L. Kohl ◽  
Sachin Suresh ◽  
Benjamin Rutschmann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Honey Bee ◽  
Optic Flow ◽  
Waggle Dance ◽  
Image Motion ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Flight Behaviour ◽  
Phase Duration ◽  
Sparse Vegetation ◽  
Visual Contrast

AbstractHoney bees estimate distances to food sources using image motion experienced on the flight path and they use this measure to tune the waggle phase duration in their dance communication. Most studies on the relationship between experienced optic flow and the dance-related odometer are based on experiments with Apis mellifera foragers trained into a small tunnel with black and white patterns which allowed quantifiable changes in the optic flow. In this study we determined the calibration curves for foragers of the two Asian honey bee species, A. florea and A. cerana, in two different natural environments with clear differences in the vegetation conditions and hence visual contrast. We found that the dense vegetation condition (with higher contrast) elicited a more rapid increase in the waggle phase duration with distance than the sparse vegetation in A. florea but not in A. cerana. Visual contrast did not affect the perception of the food reward, measured as the number of dance circuits produced per distance, in both species. Our findings suggest that contrast sensitivity of the waggle dance odometer, or other aspects of flight behaviour, might vary among honey bee species.

Distance estimation by Asian honey bees in two visually different landscapes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ebi Antony George ◽  
Neethu Thulasi ◽  
Patrick L. Kohl ◽  
Sachin Suresh ◽  
Benjamin Rutschmann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Honey Bee ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Distance Estimation ◽  
Image Motion ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Phase Duration ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Sparse Vegetation ◽  
Visual Contrast

Honey bees estimate distances to food sources using image motion experienced on the flight path and they use this measure to tune the waggle phase duration in their dance communication. Most studies on the dance-related odometer are based on experiments with Apis mellifera foragers trained into small tunnels with black and white patterns which allowed quantifiable changes in the optic flow. In this study, we determined the calibration curves of two Asian honey bee species, A. florea and A. cerana, in two different natural environments with clear differences in the vegetation conditions and hence visual contrast. We found that the dense vegetation condition (with higher contrast) elicited a more rapid increase in the waggle phase duration with distance than the sparse vegetation in A. florea but not in A. cerana. Our findings suggest that contrast sensitivity of the waggle dance odometer might vary among honey bee species.

scholarly journals Discharge Properties of MST Neurons That Project to the Frontal Pursuit Area in Macaque Monkeys

2005 ◽  
Vol 94 (2) ◽  
pp. 1084-1090 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne K. Churchland ◽  
Stephen G. Lisberger
Keyword(s):  
Optic Flow ◽  
Action Potentials ◽  
Rhesus Monkeys ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
Image Motion ◽  
Antidromic Activation ◽  
Medial Superior Temporal ◽  
Mst Neurons ◽  
Direction Tuning ◽  
And Control

We have used antidromic activation to determine the functional discharge properties of neurons that project to the frontal pursuit area (FPA) from the medial-superior temporal visual area (MST). In awake rhesus monkeys, MST neurons were considered to be activated antidromically if they emitted action potentials at fixed, short latencies after stimulation in the FPA and if the activation passed the collision test. Antidromically activated neurons ( n = 37) and a sample of the overall population of MST neurons ( n = 110) then were studied during pursuit eye movements across a dark background and during laminar motion of a large random-dot texture and optic flow expansion and contraction during fixation. Antidromically activated neurons showed direction tuning during pursuit (25/37), during laminar image motion (21/37), or both (16/37). Of 27 neurons tested with optic flow stimuli, 14 showed tuning for optic flow expansion ( n = 10) or contraction ( n = 4). There were no statistically significant differences in the response properties of the antidromically activated and control samples. Preferred directions for pursuit and laminar image motion did not show any statistically significant biases, and the preferred directions for eye versus image motion in each sample tended to be equally divided between aligned and opposed. There were small differences between the control and antidromically activated populations in preferred speeds for laminar motion and optic flow; these might have reached statistical significance with larger samples of antidromically activated neurons. We conclude that the population of MST neurons projecting to the FPA is highly diverse and quite similar to the general population of neurons in MST.

scholarly journals Use of waggle dance information in honey bees is linked to gene expression in the antennae, but not in the brain

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anissa Kennedy ◽  
Tianfei Peng ◽  
Simone M. Glaser ◽  
Melissa Linn ◽  
Susanne Foitzik ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Information Integration ◽  
Private Information ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Social Information ◽  
Waggle Dance ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Intrinsic Factors ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
Prior Experiences

AbstractCommunication is essential for social animals, but deciding how to utilize information provided by conspecifics is a complex process that depends on environmental and intrinsic factors. Honey bees use a unique form of communication, the waggle dance, to inform nestmates about the location of food sources. However, as in many other animals, experienced individuals often ignore this social information and prefer to rely on prior experiences, i.e. private information. The neurosensory factors that drive the decision to use social information are not yet understood. Here we test whether the decision to use social dance information or private information is linked to gene expression differences in different parts of the nervous system. We trained bees to collect food from sugar water feeders and observed whether they utilize social or private information when exposed to dances for a new food source. We performed transcriptome analysis of four brain parts critical for cognition: the subesophageal ganglion, the central brain, the mushroom bodies, and the antennal lobes but, unexpectedly, detected no differences between social or private information users. In contrast, we found 413 differentially expressed genes in the antennae, suggesting that variation in sensory perception mediate the decision to use social information. Social information users were characterized by the upregulation of dopamine and serotonin genes while private information users upregualted several genes coding for odor perception. These results highlight that decision making in honey bees might also depend on peripheral processes of perception rather than higher-order brain centers of information integration.

Simulation of the Feedbacks and Regulation of Recruitment Dancing in Honey Bees

1998 ◽  
Vol 01 (02n03) ◽  
pp. 267-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Honey Bee ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Waggle Dance ◽  
Fluctuating Environment ◽  
Worker Allocation ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Parameter Values ◽  
Tremble Dance ◽  
Threshold Rule

Honey bee nectar foragers returning to the hive experience a delay as they search for a receiver bee to whom they transfer their material. In this paper I describe the simulation of the "threshold rule" (Seeley, 1995) which relates the magnitude of this search delay to the probability of performing a recriutment dance — waggle dance, tremble dance, or no dance. Results show that this rule leads to self-organised near-optimal worker allocation in a fluctuating environment, is extremely robust, and operates over a wide range of parameter values. The reason for the robustness appears to be the particular sytem of feedbacks that operate within the system.

scholarly journals Neonicotinoids disrupt circadian rhythms and sleep in honey bees

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael C. Tackenberg ◽  
Manuel A. Giannoni-Guzmán ◽  
Erik Sanchez-Perez ◽  
Caleb A. Doll ◽  
José L. Agosto-Rivera ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Circadian Rhythms ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Fruit Fly ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Nicotinic Cholinergic Receptors ◽  
Cholinergic Signaling ◽  
Neonicotinoid Pesticides ◽  
Circadian Behavior ◽  
Light Input

Abstract Honey bees are critical pollinators in ecosystems and agriculture, but their numbers have significantly declined. Declines in pollinator populations are thought to be due to multiple factors including habitat loss, climate change, increased vulnerability to disease and parasites, and pesticide use. Neonicotinoid pesticides are agonists of insect nicotinic cholinergic receptors, and sub-lethal exposures are linked to reduced honey bee hive survival. Honey bees are highly dependent on circadian clocks to regulate critical behaviors, such as foraging orientation and navigation, time-memory for food sources, sleep, and learning/memory processes. Because circadian clock neurons in insects receive light input through cholinergic signaling we tested for effects of neonicotinoids on honey bee circadian rhythms and sleep. Neonicotinoid ingestion by feeding over several days results in neonicotinoid accumulation in the bee brain, disrupts circadian rhythmicity in many individual bees, shifts the timing of behavioral circadian rhythms in bees that remain rhythmic, and impairs sleep. Neonicotinoids and light input act synergistically to disrupt bee circadian behavior, and neonicotinoids directly stimulate wake-promoting clock neurons in the fruit fly brain. Neonicotinoids disrupt honey bee circadian rhythms and sleep, likely by aberrant stimulation of clock neurons, to potentially impair honey bee navigation, time-memory, and social communication.

scholarly journals Impact of the quality of food sources on the wing beating of honey bee dancers

Apidologie ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 631-641 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylwia Łopuch ◽  
Adam Tofilski
Keyword(s):  
Honey Bee ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Quality Of Food
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