Trophallaxis in honeybees, Apis mellifera (L.), as related to their past experience at the food source

Forager honeybees returning to the hive after a successful foraging trip unload the collected liquid to recipient hivemates through mouth-to-mouth food exchange contacts (trophallaxis). The speed at which the liquid is transferred (unloading rate) from donor to recipient is related to the profitabil...

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Autores principales: Wainselboim, Alejandro Javier, Farina, Walter Marcelo
Publicado: 2003
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Acceso en línea:https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_00033472_v66_n4_p791_Wainselboim
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_00033472_v66_n4_p791_Wainselboim
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spelling paper:paper_00033472_v66_n4_p791_Wainselboim2023-06-08T14:24:19Z Trophallaxis in honeybees, Apis mellifera (L.), as related to their past experience at the food source Wainselboim, Alejandro Javier Farina, Walter Marcelo behavioral ecology honeybee trophallaxis unloading Animalia Apidae Apis Apis mellifera Apis mellifera Hymenoptera Forager honeybees returning to the hive after a successful foraging trip unload the collected liquid to recipient hivemates through mouth-to-mouth food exchange contacts (trophallaxis). The speed at which the liquid is transferred (unloading rate) from donor to recipient is related to the profitability offered by the recently visited food source. However, because a forager's evaluation of the profitability of a food source, as measured by dancing behaviour, is influenced by previous foraging experience, we investigated whether trophallaxis might also be influenced by previous foraging experience. We measured unloading rate for a given profitability condition at the food source (in terms of solution flow rate) in three groups of foragers that differed in their previous experience at the source. One group experienced the same flow rate of solution in five successive visits (control group), another group experienced a lower flow rate in the first four visits and the third group experienced a higher flow rate in the first four visits. The results of the present study show that animals trained to a lower flow rate increased their unloading rate compared with the control group, indicating an influence of past foraging experience on their evaluation of food source profitability. This influence was not observed in the group trained to a higher flow rate, which responded as the control group. Additional experiments indicated that foragers appear to evaluate the profitability of the source by integrating an overall flow rate throughout the entire visit, instead of measuring only the current flow rate delivered by the feeder. © 2003 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Fil:Wainselboim, A.J. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. Fil:Farina, W.M. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. 2003 https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_00033472_v66_n4_p791_Wainselboim http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_00033472_v66_n4_p791_Wainselboim
institution Universidad de Buenos Aires
institution_str I-28
repository_str R-134
collection Biblioteca Digital - Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (UBA)
topic behavioral ecology
honeybee
trophallaxis
unloading
Animalia
Apidae
Apis
Apis mellifera
Apis mellifera
Hymenoptera
spellingShingle behavioral ecology
honeybee
trophallaxis
unloading
Animalia
Apidae
Apis
Apis mellifera
Apis mellifera
Hymenoptera
Wainselboim, Alejandro Javier
Farina, Walter Marcelo
Trophallaxis in honeybees, Apis mellifera (L.), as related to their past experience at the food source
topic_facet behavioral ecology
honeybee
trophallaxis
unloading
Animalia
Apidae
Apis
Apis mellifera
Apis mellifera
Hymenoptera
description Forager honeybees returning to the hive after a successful foraging trip unload the collected liquid to recipient hivemates through mouth-to-mouth food exchange contacts (trophallaxis). The speed at which the liquid is transferred (unloading rate) from donor to recipient is related to the profitability offered by the recently visited food source. However, because a forager's evaluation of the profitability of a food source, as measured by dancing behaviour, is influenced by previous foraging experience, we investigated whether trophallaxis might also be influenced by previous foraging experience. We measured unloading rate for a given profitability condition at the food source (in terms of solution flow rate) in three groups of foragers that differed in their previous experience at the source. One group experienced the same flow rate of solution in five successive visits (control group), another group experienced a lower flow rate in the first four visits and the third group experienced a higher flow rate in the first four visits. The results of the present study show that animals trained to a lower flow rate increased their unloading rate compared with the control group, indicating an influence of past foraging experience on their evaluation of food source profitability. This influence was not observed in the group trained to a higher flow rate, which responded as the control group. Additional experiments indicated that foragers appear to evaluate the profitability of the source by integrating an overall flow rate throughout the entire visit, instead of measuring only the current flow rate delivered by the feeder. © 2003 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
author Wainselboim, Alejandro Javier
Farina, Walter Marcelo
author_facet Wainselboim, Alejandro Javier
Farina, Walter Marcelo
author_sort Wainselboim, Alejandro Javier
title Trophallaxis in honeybees, Apis mellifera (L.), as related to their past experience at the food source
title_short Trophallaxis in honeybees, Apis mellifera (L.), as related to their past experience at the food source
title_full Trophallaxis in honeybees, Apis mellifera (L.), as related to their past experience at the food source
title_fullStr Trophallaxis in honeybees, Apis mellifera (L.), as related to their past experience at the food source
title_full_unstemmed Trophallaxis in honeybees, Apis mellifera (L.), as related to their past experience at the food source
title_sort trophallaxis in honeybees, apis mellifera (l.), as related to their past experience at the food source
publishDate 2003
url https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_00033472_v66_n4_p791_Wainselboim
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_00033472_v66_n4_p791_Wainselboim
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AT farinawaltermarcelo trophallaxisinhoneybeesapismelliferalasrelatedtotheirpastexperienceatthefoodsource
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