INVESTIGADORES
FARINA Walter Marcelo
artículos
Título:
Nectar-receiver behavior in relation to the reward rate experienced by foraging honeybees
Autor/es:
PÍREZ, NICOLAS; FARINA, WALTER M
Revista:
BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY AND SOCIOBIOLOGY
Editorial:
Springer
Referencias:
Lugar: Heidelberg; Año: 2004 p. 574 - 582
ISSN:
0340-5443
Resumen:
Since forager honeybees change their food unloading
behavior according to nectar-source profitability,
an experiment was performed in order to analyze
whether food-receivers modify their within-hive tasks
related to different reward conditions. We offered individual
foragers two reward conditions at a rate feeder
while an additional feeder offered a constant reward and
was of free access to the rest of the hive. Both feeders
were the only food sources exploited by the colony during
the assays since a flight chamber was used. After
receiving nectar, hive bees performed processing cycles
that involved several behaviors and concluded when they
returned to the delivery area to receive a new food
sample. During these cycles, receivers mainly performed
oral contacts offering food, or inspected cells, and often
both. In the latter case, both behaviors occurred simultaneously
and at the same distance from the hive entrance.
When they performed a single task, either the occurrence
of cell inspections increased or contact offerings decreased
for the highest reward rate offered to the donor forager.
Receivers also begged for food more often after
interacting with low-profit foragers. Thus, the profitability
of the food source exploited by nectar-forager
honeybees could affect receiver behaviors within the
hives based on individual-to-individual interactions.