IFIBYNE   05513
INSTITUTO DE FISIOLOGIA, BIOLOGIA MOLECULAR Y NEUROCIENCIAS
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
artículos
Título:
Honeybees modify gustatory responsiveness after receiving nectar from foragers within the hive
Autor/es:
MARTÍNEZ, ANDRÉS; FARINA, WALTER M
Revista:
BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY AND SOCIOBIOLOGY
Editorial:
Springer
Referencias:
Lugar: Heidelberg; Año: 2008 p. 529 - 535
ISSN:
0340-5443
Resumen:
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