Could pre-imaginal olfactory experiences modify the postmetamorphic behavior in a social insect?

G.P. RAMÍREZ; A. ARENAS; W.M. FARINA

Congreso; XXVI Congreso Anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencias; 2011

In honeybee colonies the information of exploited resources is transferred amongnest mates through mouth-to-mouth trophallaxis events. These social interactionsalso involve larvae as food recipients. We wonder if appetitive olfactoryexperiences that occur during pre-imaginal stages influence post-metamorphicodor-mediated responses. To address the issue we tested learning performanceand memory retention in adults of 3/5 days old that underwent a pre-imaginalexperience. Such experience was done by means of a scented-sucrose solution offered inside the hive and tested under the proboscis extension response (PER) paradigm in the lab. Results showed that precocious experience increased the PER levels toward the pre-exposed odor suggesting retention of information gained prior to the emergence. Interestingly, high PER-levels to novel odors were also found accordingly to perceptual similarities between pre-exposed and different novel odors, resembling generalization in tested adults. Lastly, we found that even those bees that did not respond to the pre-exposed odor improved their learning performance in a PER-conditioning. Thus, pre-imaginal experiences may allow bees to assess food information very early in life with consequences in their learning abilities during adult stage.