Absence of food alternatives promotes risk-prone feeding of unpalatable substances in honey bees

The question of why animals sometimes ingest noxious substances is crucial to understand unknown determinants of feeding behaviour. Research on risk-prone feeding behaviour has largely focused on energy budgets as animals with low energy budgets tend to ingest more aversive substances. A less explor...

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Autores principales: Desmedt, L., Hotier, L., Giurfa, M., Velarde, R., De Brito Sanchez, M.G.
Formato: JOUR
Materias:
bee
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_20452322_v6_n_p_Desmedt
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spelling todo:paper_20452322_v6_n_p_Desmedt2023-10-03T16:38:13Z Absence of food alternatives promotes risk-prone feeding of unpalatable substances in honey bees Desmedt, L. Hotier, L. Giurfa, M. Velarde, R. De Brito Sanchez, M.G. animal bee energy metabolism feeding behavior physiology Animals Bees Energy Metabolism Feeding Behavior The question of why animals sometimes ingest noxious substances is crucial to understand unknown determinants of feeding behaviour. Research on risk-prone feeding behaviour has largely focused on energy budgets as animals with low energy budgets tend to ingest more aversive substances. A less explored possibility is that risk-prone feeding arises from the absence of alternative feeding options, irrespectively of energy budgets. Here we contrasted these two hypotheses in late-fall and winter honey bees. We determined the toxicity of various feeding treatments and showed that when bees can choose between sucrose solution and a mixture of this sucrose solution and a noxious/unpalatable substance, they prefer the pure sucrose solution and reject the mixtures, irrespective of their energy budget. Yet, when bees were presented with a single feeding option and their escape possibilities were reduced, they consumed unexpectedly some of the previously rejected mixtures, independently of their energy budget. These findings are interpreted as a case of feeding helplessness, in which bees behave as if it were utterly helpless to avoid the potentially noxious food and consume it. They suggest that depriving bees of variable natural food sources may have the undesired consequence of increasing their acceptance of food that would be otherwise rejected. © The Author(s) 2016. Fil:Giurfa, M. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. JOUR info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ar http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_20452322_v6_n_p_Desmedt
institution Universidad de Buenos Aires
institution_str I-28
repository_str R-134
collection Biblioteca Digital - Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (UBA)
topic animal
bee
energy metabolism
feeding behavior
physiology
Animals
Bees
Energy Metabolism
Feeding Behavior
spellingShingle animal
bee
energy metabolism
feeding behavior
physiology
Animals
Bees
Energy Metabolism
Feeding Behavior
Desmedt, L.
Hotier, L.
Giurfa, M.
Velarde, R.
De Brito Sanchez, M.G.
Absence of food alternatives promotes risk-prone feeding of unpalatable substances in honey bees
topic_facet animal
bee
energy metabolism
feeding behavior
physiology
Animals
Bees
Energy Metabolism
Feeding Behavior
description The question of why animals sometimes ingest noxious substances is crucial to understand unknown determinants of feeding behaviour. Research on risk-prone feeding behaviour has largely focused on energy budgets as animals with low energy budgets tend to ingest more aversive substances. A less explored possibility is that risk-prone feeding arises from the absence of alternative feeding options, irrespectively of energy budgets. Here we contrasted these two hypotheses in late-fall and winter honey bees. We determined the toxicity of various feeding treatments and showed that when bees can choose between sucrose solution and a mixture of this sucrose solution and a noxious/unpalatable substance, they prefer the pure sucrose solution and reject the mixtures, irrespective of their energy budget. Yet, when bees were presented with a single feeding option and their escape possibilities were reduced, they consumed unexpectedly some of the previously rejected mixtures, independently of their energy budget. These findings are interpreted as a case of feeding helplessness, in which bees behave as if it were utterly helpless to avoid the potentially noxious food and consume it. They suggest that depriving bees of variable natural food sources may have the undesired consequence of increasing their acceptance of food that would be otherwise rejected. © The Author(s) 2016.
format JOUR
author Desmedt, L.
Hotier, L.
Giurfa, M.
Velarde, R.
De Brito Sanchez, M.G.
author_facet Desmedt, L.
Hotier, L.
Giurfa, M.
Velarde, R.
De Brito Sanchez, M.G.
author_sort Desmedt, L.
title Absence of food alternatives promotes risk-prone feeding of unpalatable substances in honey bees
title_short Absence of food alternatives promotes risk-prone feeding of unpalatable substances in honey bees
title_full Absence of food alternatives promotes risk-prone feeding of unpalatable substances in honey bees
title_fullStr Absence of food alternatives promotes risk-prone feeding of unpalatable substances in honey bees
title_full_unstemmed Absence of food alternatives promotes risk-prone feeding of unpalatable substances in honey bees
title_sort absence of food alternatives promotes risk-prone feeding of unpalatable substances in honey bees
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_20452322_v6_n_p_Desmedt
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AT hotierl absenceoffoodalternativespromotesriskpronefeedingofunpalatablesubstancesinhoneybees
AT giurfam absenceoffoodalternativespromotesriskpronefeedingofunpalatablesubstancesinhoneybees
AT velarder absenceoffoodalternativespromotesriskpronefeedingofunpalatablesubstancesinhoneybees
AT debritosanchezmg absenceoffoodalternativespromotesriskpronefeedingofunpalatablesubstancesinhoneybees
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