Past experiences affect interaction patterns among foragers and hive-mates in honeybees.

GRÜTER, CHRISTOPH; FARINA, WALTER M

ETHOLOGY

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Año: 2009 p. 790 - 797

0179-1613

Social insect colonies face the challenge of adjusting the behavior ofindividuals performing various tasks to a changing environment. It hasbeen shown in several species that characteristics of interaction patternsbetween nestmates provide social information that allows individuals toadjust their behavior in adaptive ways. A well-studied example is themodulation of recruitment by dancing in honeybees (Apis mellifera) inresponse to the time, the foragers have to search for unloading partnersand the number of unloading bees. Here we tested if experiences thathive bees acquired during past social interactions affect interactions withthe incoming foragers. Bees returning with food containing a floral scentthat was familiar to the hive bees from previous interactions had morefood receivers during unloading and more followers during dancing displayscompared with foragers returning with food containing a novelscent or unscented food. We also confirm that the number of receiversduring food unloading is positively related to the motivation to danceimmediately after unloading. Our results show that prior social experiencesaffect the ways in which individuals interact in the context ofhoneybee nectar collection and, therefore, how learning in hive beescontributes to the organization of this collective task.