Honeybees modify gustatory responsiveness after receiving nectar from foragers within the hive

Food quality is a relevant characteristic to be transferred within eusocial insect colonies because its evaluation improves the collective foraging efficiency. In honeybees, colony mates could directly acquire this resource characteristic during trophallactic encounters with nectar foragers. In the...

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Autores principales: Martinez, A., Farina, W.M.
Formato: JOUR
Materias:
Apis mellifera
Communication
Honeybee
Sugar response
Trophallaxis
food quality
foraging behavior
foraging efficiency
honeybee
nectar
physiological response
Apoidea
Hexapoda
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_03405443_v62_n4_p529_Martinez
Aporte de:
Biblioteca Digital - Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (UBA) de Universidad de Buenos Aires
id todo:paper_03405443_v62_n4_p529_Martinez
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spelling todo:paper_03405443_v62_n4_p529_Martinez2023-10-03T15:25:40Z Honeybees modify gustatory responsiveness after receiving nectar from foragers within the hive Martinez, A. Farina, W.M. Apis mellifera Communication Honeybee Sugar response Trophallaxis food quality foraging behavior foraging efficiency honeybee nectar physiological response Apis mellifera Apoidea Hexapoda Food quality is a relevant characteristic to be transferred within eusocial insect colonies because its evaluation improves the collective foraging efficiency. In honeybees, colony mates could directly acquire this resource characteristic during trophallactic encounters with nectar foragers. In the present study, we focused on the gustatory responsiveness of bees that have unloaded food from incoming foragers. The sugar sensitivity of receiver bees was assessed in the laboratory by using the proboscis extension response paradigm. After unloading, hive bees were captured either from a colony that foraged freely in the environmental surroundings or from a colony that foraged at an artificial feeder with a known sucrose solution. In the first situation, the sugar sensitivity of the hive bees negatively correlated with the sugar concentration of the nectar crops brought back by forager mates. Similarly, in the controlled situation, the highest sucrose concentration the receivers accepted during trophallaxis corresponded to the highest thresholds to sucrose. The results indicate that first-order receivers modify their sugar sensitivity according to the quality of the food previously transferred through trophallaxis by the incoming foragers. In addition, trophallaxis is a mechanism capable of transferring gustatory information in honeybees. Its implications at a social scale might involve changes in the social information as well as in nectar distribution within the colony. © 2007 Springer-Verlag. JOUR info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ar http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_03405443_v62_n4_p529_Martinez
institution Universidad de Buenos Aires
institution_str I-28
repository_str R-134
collection Biblioteca Digital - Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (UBA)
topic Apis mellifera
Communication
Honeybee
Sugar response
Trophallaxis
food quality
foraging behavior
foraging efficiency
honeybee
nectar
physiological response
Apis mellifera
Apoidea
Hexapoda
spellingShingle Apis mellifera
Communication
Honeybee
Sugar response
Trophallaxis
food quality
foraging behavior
foraging efficiency
honeybee
nectar
physiological response
Apis mellifera
Apoidea
Hexapoda
Martinez, A.
Farina, W.M.
Honeybees modify gustatory responsiveness after receiving nectar from foragers within the hive
topic_facet Apis mellifera
Communication
Honeybee
Sugar response
Trophallaxis
food quality
foraging behavior
foraging efficiency
honeybee
nectar
physiological response
Apis mellifera
Apoidea
Hexapoda
description Food quality is a relevant characteristic to be transferred within eusocial insect colonies because its evaluation improves the collective foraging efficiency. In honeybees, colony mates could directly acquire this resource characteristic during trophallactic encounters with nectar foragers. In the present study, we focused on the gustatory responsiveness of bees that have unloaded food from incoming foragers. The sugar sensitivity of receiver bees was assessed in the laboratory by using the proboscis extension response paradigm. After unloading, hive bees were captured either from a colony that foraged freely in the environmental surroundings or from a colony that foraged at an artificial feeder with a known sucrose solution. In the first situation, the sugar sensitivity of the hive bees negatively correlated with the sugar concentration of the nectar crops brought back by forager mates. Similarly, in the controlled situation, the highest sucrose concentration the receivers accepted during trophallaxis corresponded to the highest thresholds to sucrose. The results indicate that first-order receivers modify their sugar sensitivity according to the quality of the food previously transferred through trophallaxis by the incoming foragers. In addition, trophallaxis is a mechanism capable of transferring gustatory information in honeybees. Its implications at a social scale might involve changes in the social information as well as in nectar distribution within the colony. © 2007 Springer-Verlag.
format JOUR
author Martinez, A.
Farina, W.M.
author_facet Martinez, A.
Farina, W.M.
author_sort Martinez, A.
title Honeybees modify gustatory responsiveness after receiving nectar from foragers within the hive
title_short Honeybees modify gustatory responsiveness after receiving nectar from foragers within the hive
title_full Honeybees modify gustatory responsiveness after receiving nectar from foragers within the hive
title_fullStr Honeybees modify gustatory responsiveness after receiving nectar from foragers within the hive
title_full_unstemmed Honeybees modify gustatory responsiveness after receiving nectar from foragers within the hive
title_sort honeybees modify gustatory responsiveness after receiving nectar from foragers within the hive
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_03405443_v62_n4_p529_Martinez
work_keys_str_mv AT martineza honeybeesmodifygustatoryresponsivenessafterreceivingnectarfromforagerswithinthehive
AT farinawm honeybeesmodifygustatoryresponsivenessafterreceivingnectarfromforagerswithinthehive
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