IFIBYNE   05513
INSTITUTO DE FISIOLOGIA, BIOLOGIA MOLECULAR Y NEUROCIENCIAS
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
artículos
Título:
Bias to pollen odors is affected by early exposure and foraging experience
Autor/es:
ARENAS, ANDRÉS; FARINA WALTER M.
Revista:
JOURNAL OF INSECT PHYSIOLOGY
Editorial:
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
Referencias:
Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2014 vol. 66 p. 28 - 36
ISSN:
0022-1910
Resumen:
In many pollinating insects, foraging preferences are adjusted on the basis of floral cues learned at the
foraging site. In addition, olfactory experiences gained at early adult stages might also help them to initially
choose food sources. To understand pollen search behavior of honeybees, we studied how responses
elicited by pollen-based odors are biased in foraging-age workers according to (i) their genetic predisposition
to collect pollen, (ii) pollen related information gained during foraging and (iii) different experiences
with pollen gained at early adult ages. Bees returning to the hive carrying pollen loads, were
strongly biased to unfamiliar pollen bouquets when tested in a food choice device against pure odors.
Moreover, pollen foragers? orientation response was specific to the odors emitted by the pollen type they
were carrying on their baskets, which suggests that foragers retrieve pollen odor information to recognize
rewarding flowers outside the hive. We observed that attraction to pollen odor was mediated by the
exposure to a pollen diet during the first week of life. We did not observe the same attraction in foraging-
age bees early exposed to an artificial diet that did not contain pollen. Contrary to the specific
response observed to cues acquired during foraging, early exposure to single-pollen diets did not bias orientation
response towards a specific pollen odor in foraging-age bees (i.e. bees chose equally between the
exposed and the novel monofloral pollen odors). Our results show that pollen exposure at early ages
together with olfactory experiences gained in a foraging context are both relevant to bias honeybees? pollen
search behavior.