Honeybee’ sucrose perception and learning performance correlate with the stage of their foraging cycle

EMILIA MORENO; A. ARENAS

Congreso; XI Congreso Argentino y XII Congreso Latinoamericano de Entomología 2022. 26.; 2022

Honeybee’ sucrose perception and learning performance correlate with the stage of their foraging cycleIn honeybees (Apis mellifera; Hymenoptera: Apidae), the collection of food sources (mainly protein and carbohydrates) is achieved by individuals specializing in pollen or nectar foraging. Foraging task specialization is linked to differences in bee sensitivity to flower rewards. In behavioral bioassays, the offering of increasing concentrations of sucrose solutions showed that pollen foragers are less sensitive to sucrose than nectar foragers. So far, differences in responsiveness have been observed between bees returning to the hive, but have not yet been studied in bees at the beginning of the foraging visit (i.e. highly motivated to forage). By means of the proboscis extension reflex (PER), an innate response elicited when sugar solution contacts the antennae, we measured the sucrose responsiveness of foragers arriving or departing from pollen or sugar feeders. In addition, we olfaction-conditioned pollen foragers to study differences in acquisition and retention of odour – sucrose associations vs. odour – sucrose + pollen associations, at the beginning and at the end of the foraging visit. Interestingly, at arrivals, pollen foragers exhibited higher sucrose sensitivity than nectar foragers and performed better with the dual (sucrose + pollen) reinforcement than with sucrose alone. As it was expected for departures, pollen foragers were less sensitive to sucrose than nectar foragers and performed similarly during conditioningwith or without pollen reinforcement. Our results support that a low responsiveness to sucrose but high to pollen at the beginning of the foraging visit contribute to foraging division of labor.