scholarly journals Spontaneous choices for insect-pollinated flower shapes by wild non-eusocial halictid bees

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scarlett R. Howard ◽  
Kit Prendergast ◽  
Matthew R. E. Symonds ◽  
Mani Shrestha ◽  
Adrian G. Dyer
Keyword(s):  
Bombus Terrestris ◽  
Foraging Strategies ◽  
Dominant Group ◽  
Significant Preference ◽  
Flower Shape ◽  
Native Bee ◽  
Shape Preference ◽  
Foraging Decisions ◽  
Eusocial Bees ◽  
Animal Pollination

The majority of angiosperms require animal pollination for reproduction and insects are the dominant group of animal pollinators. Bees are considered one of the most important and abundant insect pollinators. Research into bee behaviour and foraging decisions has typically centred on managed eusocial bee species, Apis mellifera and Bombus terrestris. Non-eusocial bees are understudied with respect to foraging strategies and decision-making, such as flower preferences. Understanding whether there are fundamental foraging strategies and preferences which are features of insect groups can provide key insights into the evolution of flower-pollinator co-evolution. In the current study, Lasioglossum (Chilalictus) lanarium and L. (Parasphecodes) sp., two native Australian generalist halictid bees, were tested for flower shape preferences between native insect-pollinated and bird-pollinated flowers. Each bee was presented with achromatic images of either insect-pollinated or bird-pollinated flowers in a circular arena. Both native bee species demonstrated a significant preference for images of insect-pollinated flowers. These preferences are similar to those found in A. mellifera, suggesting that flower shape preference may be a deep-rooted evolutionary occurrence within bees. With growing interest in the sensory capabilities of non-eusocial bees as alternative pollinators, the current study also provides a valuable framework for further behavioural testing of such species.

scholarly journals An exploration of the relationship between recruitment communication and foraging in stingless bees

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robbie I’Anson Price ◽  
Francisca Segers ◽  
Amelia Berger ◽  
Fabio S Nascimento ◽  
Christoph Grüter
Keyword(s):  
Stingless Bees ◽  
Sugar Content ◽  
Social Information ◽  
Food Resources ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Foraging Strategies ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Recruitment Communication ◽  
Eusocial Bees ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Social information is widely used in the animal kingdom and can be highly adaptive. In social insects, foragers can use social information to find food, avoid danger or choose a new nest site. Copying others allows individuals to obtain information without having to sample the environment. When foragers communicate information they will often only advertise high quality food sources, thereby filtering out less adaptive information. Stingless bees, a large pantropical group of highly eusocial bees, face intense inter- and intra-specific competition for limited resources, yet display disparate foraging strategies. Within the same environment there are species that communicate the location of food resources to nest-mates and species that do not. Our current understanding of why some species communicate foraging sites while others do not is limited. Studying freely foraging colonies of several co-existing stingless bee species in Brazil, we investigated if recruitment to specific food locations is linked to (1) the sugar content of forage, (2) the duration of foraging trips and (3) the variation in activity of a colony from one day to another and the variation in activity in a species over a day. We found that, contrary to our expectations, species with recruitment communication did not return with higher quality forage than species that do not recruit nestmates. Furthermore, foragers from recruiting species did not have shorter foraging trip durations than those from weakly-recruiting species. Given the intense inter- and intraspecific competition for resources in these environments, it may be that recruiting species favour food resources that can be monopolised by the colony rather than food sources that offer high-quality rewards.

scholarly journals Olfactory coding in the antennal lobe of the bumble bee Bombus terrestris

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcel Mertes ◽  
Julie Carcaud ◽  
Jean-Christophe Sandoz
Keyword(s):  
Honey Bees ◽  
Antennal Lobe ◽  
Bombus Terrestris ◽  
Bumble Bees ◽  
Foraging Strategies ◽  
Bumble Bee ◽  
Carbon Chain Length ◽  
Olfactory Coding ◽  
Major Transitions

AbstractSociality is classified as one of the major transitions in evolution, with the largest number of eusocial species found in the insect order Hymenoptera, including the Apini (honey bees) and the Bombini (bumble bees). Bumble bees and honey bees not only differ in their social organization and foraging strategies, but comparative analyses of their genomes demonstrated that bumble bees have a slightly less diverse family of olfactory receptors than honey bees, suggesting that their olfactory abilities have adapted to different social and/or ecological conditions. However, unfortunately, no precise comparison of olfactory coding has been performed so far between honey bees and bumble bees, and little is known about the rules underlying olfactory coding in the bumble bee brain. In this study, we used in vivo calcium imaging to study olfactory coding of a panel of floral odorants in the antennal lobe of the bumble bee Bombus terrestris. Our results show that odorants induce reproducible neuronal activity in the bumble bee antennal lobe. Each odorant evokes a different glomerular activity pattern revealing this molecule’s chemical structure, i.e. its carbon chain length and functional group. In addition, pairwise similarity among odor representations are conserved in bumble bees and honey bees. This study thus suggests that bumble bees, like honey bees, are equipped to respond to odorants according to their chemical features.

Color and side preferences in Palestine sunbirds (Nectarinia osea)

2014 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rainee L. Kaczorowski ◽  
Gali Blumenfeld ◽  
Avi Koplovich ◽  
Shai Markman
Keyword(s):  
Food Sources ◽  
Separate Experiment ◽  
Significant Preference ◽  
Floral Color ◽  
Foraging Decisions ◽  
Quality Of Food ◽  
Color Bias ◽  
Preference Experiment ◽  
Side Bias

Floral color is an important cue that converged in many ornithophilous flowers and can be used by nectarivorous birds to make foraging decisions. Wild ornithophilous flowers are frequently red, although they are more often yellow in Israel. The Palestine sunbird (Nectarinia osea) is the only nectarivorous bird in Israel and surrounding Mediterranean areas. Given the prevalence of yellow flowers in their habitats (along with sunbirds' expected sensitivity increase in this region of color vision), we predicted that Palestine sunbirds prefer yellow food sources over red. We examined sunbird foraging behavior when they were presented simultaneously with a yellow and red feeder, each containing the same quantity and quality of food. We investigated whether sunbirds had a side bias in the color preference experiment, but also in a separate experiment where both feeders were white. Sunbirds did not exhibit a significant color bias, while they did have a significant preference for a particular side of the cage. Location appears to be a more important cue than color to Palestine sunbirds, likely because location can offer information on the most rewarding plants and recently depleted flowers. However, color may still provide useful information that could influence foraging decisions in different contexts.

scholarly journals Bumblebees ( Bombus terrestris ) use social information as an indicator of safety in dangerous environments

2014 ◽  
Vol 281 (1785) ◽  
pp. 20133174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erika H. Dawson ◽  
Lars Chittka
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Bombus Terrestris ◽  
Social Information ◽  
Past Experience ◽  
Significant Preference ◽  
The Social ◽  
Good Signal ◽  
Animal Faces ◽  
First Time ◽  
Plant Pollinator

Avoiding predation is one of the most important challenges that an animal faces. Several anti-predation behaviours can be employed, yet simply using the presence of conspecifics can be a good signal of safety in an environment with potential predation hazards. Here, we show, for the first time, that past experience of predation causes bumblebees ( Bombus terrestris ) to aggregate with conspecifics, facilitating the identification of safe foraging patches. Bees were trained to differentiate between flowers that harboured predators and flowers that were predator free. When test subjects were subsequently presented solely with the previously predator-infested flower species, there was a significant preference to only land on flowers occupied by other feeding conspecifics. Yet, when safe flowers were made available to subjects previously entrained to discriminate safe from predator-occupied flowers, subjects ignored other bees and the social information potentially provided by them, demonstrating that attraction towards conspecifics is confined to dangerous situations. Our findings demonstrate a previously unknown social interaction in pollinators which may have important implications for plant–pollinator interactions.

scholarly journals Mechanosensory hairs in bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) detect weak electric fields

2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (26) ◽  
pp. 7261-7265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory P. Sutton ◽  
Dominic Clarke ◽  
Erica L. Morley ◽  
Daniel Robert
Keyword(s):  
Electric Field ◽  
Electric Fields ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Bombus Terrestris ◽  
Angular Displacement ◽  
Electric Field Sensors ◽  
Sensory Hairs ◽  
Foraging Decisions ◽  
Sensory Capacity ◽  
A Site

Bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) use information from surrounding electric fields to make foraging decisions. Electroreception in air, a nonconductive medium, is a recently discovered sensory capacity of insects, yet the sensory mechanisms remain elusive. Here, we investigate two putative electric field sensors: antennae and mechanosensory hairs. Examining their mechanical and neural response, we show that electric fields cause deflections in both antennae and hairs. Hairs respond with a greater median velocity, displacement, and angular displacement than antennae. Extracellular recordings from the antennae do not show any electrophysiological correlates to these mechanical deflections. In contrast, hair deflections in response to an electric field elicited neural activity. Mechanical deflections of both hairs and antennae increase with the electric charge carried by the bumblebee. From this evidence, we conclude that sensory hairs are a site of electroreception in the bumblebee.

scholarly journals Floral vibrations by buzz-pollinating bees achieve higher frequency, velocity and acceleration than flight and defence vibrations

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J. Pritchard ◽  
Mario Vallejo-Marín
Keyword(s):  
Vibration Amplitude ◽  
Bombus Terrestris ◽  
Warning Signal ◽  
Biomechanical Properties ◽  
Pollen Foraging ◽  
Insect Behaviour ◽  
Pollen Collection ◽  
Pollen Removal ◽  
Foraging Decisions ◽  
Flight Muscles

AbstractVibrations play an important role in insect behaviour. In bees, vibrations are used in a variety of contexts including communication, as a warning signal to deter predators and during pollen foraging. However, little is known about how the biomechanical properties of bee vibrations vary across multiple behaviours within a species. In this study, we compared the properties of vibrations produced by Bombus terrestris audax (Hymenoptera: Apidae) workers in three contexts: during flight, during defensive buzzing, and in floral vibrations produced during pollen foraging on two buzz-pollinated plants (Solanum, Solanaceae). Using laser vibrometry, we were able to obtain contactless measures of both the frequency and amplitude of the thoracic vibrations of bees across the three behaviours. Despite all three types of vibrations being produced by the same power flight muscles, we found clear differences in the mechanical properties of the vibrations produced in different contexts. Both floral and defensive buzzes had higher frequency and amplitude velocity, acceleration, and displacement than the vibrations produced during flight. Floral vibrations had the highest frequency, amplitude velocity and acceleration of all the behaviours studied. Vibration amplitude, and in particular acceleration, of floral vibrations has been suggested as the key property for removing pollen from buzz-pollinated anthers. By increasing frequency and amplitude velocity and acceleration of their vibrations during vibratory pollen collection, foraging bees may be able to maximise pollen removal from flowers, although their foraging decisions are likely to be influenced by the presumably high cost of producing floral vibrations.

scholarly journals Tandem running by foraging Pachycondyla striata workers in field conditions vary in response to food type, food distance, and environmental conditions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janiele Pereira da Silva ◽  
Lohan Valadares ◽  
Maria Eduarda de Lima Vieira ◽  
Serafino Teseo ◽  
Nicolas Châline
Keyword(s):  
Information Transfer ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Foraging Strategies ◽  
Food Type ◽  
Tandem Running ◽  
Food Items ◽  
Foraging Decisions ◽  
Trail Laying ◽  
Different Temperatures ◽  
Small Colony

Abstract Ants show collective and individual behavioural flexibility in their response to immediate context, choosing for example between different foraging strategies. In Pachycondyla striata, workers can forage solitarily or recruit and guide nestmates to larger food sources through tandem running. Although considered more ancestral and less efficient than pheromone trail-laying, this strategy is common especially in species with small colony size. What is not known is how the decision to recruit or follow varies according to the immediate context. That is, how fine adjustments in information transfer affect immediate foraging decisions at the colony level. Here, we studied individually marked workers and evaluated their foraging decisions when food items varied in nature (protein vs carbohydrate), size, and distance from the nest at different temperatures and humidity levels. Our results show that tandem run leaders and potential followers adjust their behaviour according to a combination of external factors. While 84.2% of trips were solitary, most ants (81%) performed at least one tandem run. However, tandem runs were more frequent for nearby resources and at higher relative humidity. Interestingly, when food items were located far away, tandem runs were more successful when heading to protein sources (75%) compared to carbohydrate sources (42%). Our results suggest that the social information transfer between leaders and followers conveys more information than previously thought, and also relies on their experience and motivation.

scholarly journals Foraging fruit flies mix navigational and learning-based decision-making strategies

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie E. Seidenbecher ◽  
Joshua I. Sanders ◽  
Anne C. von Philipsborn ◽  
Duda Kvitsiani
Keyword(s):  
Reinforcement Learning ◽  
Neural Circuit ◽  
Fruit Flies ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Foraging Strategies ◽  
Behavioral Strategies ◽  
Local Searches ◽  
Option Values ◽  
Foraging Decisions ◽  
Reduced Representations

AbstractAnimals often navigate environments that are uncertain, volatile and complex, making it challenging to locate reliable food sources. Therefore, it is not surprising that many species evolved multiple, parallel and complementary foraging strategies to survive. Current research on animal behavior is largely driven by a reductionist approach and attempts to study one particular aspect of behavior in isolation. This is justified by the huge success of past and current research in understanding neural circuit mechanisms of behaviors. But focusing on only one aspect of behaviors obscures their inherent multidimensional nature. To fill this gap we aimed to identify and characterize distinct behavioral modules using a simple reward foraging assay. For this we developed a single-animal, trial-based probabilistic foraging task, where freely walking fruit flies experience optogenetic sugar-receptor neuron stimulation. By carefully analyzing the walking trajectories of flies, we were able to dissect the animals foraging decisions into multiple underlying systems. We show that flies perform local searches, cue-based navigation and learn task relevant contingencies. Using probabilistic reward delivery allowed us to bid several competing reinforcement learning (RL) models against each other. We discover that flies accumulate chosen option values, forget unchosen option values and seek novelty. We further show that distinct behavioral modules -learning and navigation-based systems-cooperate, suggesting that reinforcement learning in flies operates on dimensionality reduced representations. We therefore argue that animals will apply combinations of multiple behavioral strategies to generate foraging decisions.

scholarly journals Insight into the kinematics of blue whale surface foraging through drone observations and prey data

PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e8906 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leigh G. Torres ◽  
Dawn R. Barlow ◽  
Todd E. Chandler ◽  
Jonathan D. Burnett
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Foraging Behavior ◽  
Foraging Ecology ◽  
Foraging Strategies ◽  
Energetic Efficiency ◽  
Blue Whale ◽  
Study Region ◽  
Foraging Decisions ◽  
Blue Whales ◽  
Lunge Feeding

To understand how predators optimize foraging strategies, extensive knowledge of predator behavior and prey distribution is needed. Blue whales employ an energetically demanding lunge feeding method that requires the whales to selectively feed where energetic gain exceeds energetic loss, while also balancing oxygen consumption, breath holding capacity, and surface recuperation time. Hence, blue whale foraging behavior is primarily driven by krill patch density and depth, but many studies have not fully considered surface feeding as a significant foraging strategy in energetic models. We collected predator and prey data on a blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) foraging ground in New Zealand in February 2017 to assess the distributional and behavioral response of blue whales to the distribution and density of krill prey aggregations. Krill density across the study region was greater toward the surface (upper 20 m), and blue whales were encountered where prey was relatively shallow and more dense. This relationship was particularly evident where foraging and surface lunge feeding were observed. Furthermore, New Zealand blue whales also had relatively short dive times (2.83 ± 0.27 SE min) as compared to other blue whale populations, which became even shorter at foraging sightings and where surface lunge feeding was observed. Using an unmanned aerial system (UAS; drone) we also captured unique video of a New Zealand blue whale’s surface feeding behavior on well-illuminated krill patches. Video analysis illustrates the whale’s potential use of vision to target prey, make foraging decisions, and orient body mechanics relative to prey patch characteristics. Kinematic analysis of a surface lunge feeding event revealed biomechanical coordination through speed, acceleration, head inclination, roll, and distance from krill patch to maximize prey engulfment. We compared these lunge kinematics to data previously reported from tagged blue whale lunges at depth to demonstrate strong similarities, and provide rare measurements of gape size, and krill response distance and time. These findings elucidate the predator-prey relationship between blue whales and krill, and provide support for the hypothesis that surface feeding by New Zealand blue whales is an important component to their foraging ecology used to optimize their energetic efficiency. Understanding how blue whales make foraging decisions presents logistical challenges, which may cause incomplete sampling and biased ecological knowledge if portions of their foraging behavior are undocumented. We conclude that surface foraging could be an important strategy for blue whales, and integration of UAS with tag-based studies may expand our understanding of their foraging ecology by examining surface feeding events in conjunction with behaviors at depth.

scholarly journals Honeybees adjust colour preferences in response to concurrent social information from conspecifics and heterospecifics

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
José E Romero-González ◽  
Cwyn Solvi ◽  
Lars Chittka
Keyword(s):  
Bombus Terrestris ◽  
Social Information ◽  
Flower Colour ◽  
Social Cues ◽  
Floral Resources ◽  
Foraging Decisions ◽  
Flower Type ◽  
Colour Preferences ◽  
Adaptive Foraging ◽  
Natural Preference

AbstractBees efficiently learn asocial and social cues to optimise foraging from fluctuating floral resources. However, it remains unclear how bees respond to divergent sources of social information, and whether such social cues might modify bees’ natural preferences for non-social cues (e.g. flower colour), hence affecting foraging decisions. Here, we investigated honeybees’ (Apis mellifera) inspection and choices of unfamiliar flowers based on both natural colour preferences and simultaneous foraging information from conspecifics and heterospecifics. Individual honeybees’ preferences for flowers were recorded when the reward levels of a learned flower type had declined and novel-coloured flowers were available where they would find either no social information or one conspecific and one heterospecific (Bombus terrestris), each foraging from a different coloured flower (magenta or yellow). Honeybees showed a natural preference for magenta flowers. Honeybees modified their inspection of both types of flowers in response to conspecific and heterospecific social information. The presence of either demonstrator on the less-preferred yellow flower increased honeybees’ inspection of yellow flowers. Conspecific social information influenced observers’ foraging choices of yellow flowers, thus outweighing their original preference for magenta flowers. This effect was not elicited by heterospecific social information. Our results indicate that flower colour preferences of honeybees are rapidly adjusted in response to conspecific social information, which in turn is preferred over heterospecific information, possibly favouring the transmission of adaptive foraging information within species.

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