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First published online September 16, 2005
Journal of Experimental Biology 208, 3731-3737 (2005)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2005
doi: 10.1242/jeb.01796

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Prior classical olfactory conditioning improves odour-cued flight orientation of honey bees in a wind tunnel

Antoine Chaffiol^1,*, David Laloi² and Minh-Hà Pham-Delègue³

¹ Laboratoire de Physiologie Cérébrale, CNRS UMR 8118, 6 Rue des Saint-Pères, 75006 Paris, France
² Laboratoire Fonctionnement et Evolution des Systèmes Ecologiques, UMR 7625, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Box 237, 7 Quai Saint Bernard, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France
³ Direction des Relations Internationales, CNRS, 3 Rue Michel-Ange, 75794 Paris, France

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: antoine.chaffiol{at}univ-paris5.fr)

Accepted 17 July 2005

Odours are key cues used by the honey bee in various situations. They play an important role in sexual attraction, social behaviour and location of profitable food sources. Here, we were interested in the role of odours in orientation at short distance, for instance the approach flight to a floral patch or in close proximity to the hive entrance. Using a newly designed wind tunnel, we investigated the orientation behaviour of the bee towards two different odours: a social odour and a floral component, linalool. We then tested the effect of prior olfactory conditioning (conditioning of the proboscis extension reflex) on subsequent flight orientation. We showed that both stimuli induced orientated behaviour (orientated flights, circling around the odour source) in up to 70% of the worker bees, social odour being slightly more attractive than the linalool. We found thereafter that orientation performance towards the floral compound can be significantly enhanced by prior classical olfactory learning. This type of information transfer, from a Pavlovian associative context to an orientation task, might allow future foragers to acquire, within the hive, relevant information about the odours and food they will encounter during their later foraging bouts.

Key words: honey bee, orientation in flight, olfactory cue, wind tunnel, olfactory conditioning, information transfer

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