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First published online June 13, 2008
Journal of Experimental Biology 211, 2101-2104 (2008)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2008
doi: 10.1242/jeb.014571
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Detection of patches of coloured discs by bees

Anna M. Wertlen1,*, Claudia Niggebrügge1,*, Misha Vorobyev2 and Natalie Hempel de Ibarra1,3,{dagger}

1 Institut für Biologie – Neurobiologie, Freie Universität Berlin, Königin-Luise-Str. 28/30, 14195 Berlin, Germany
2 Department of Optometry and Vision Science, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand
3 School of Psychology, University of Exeter, Washington Singer Labs, Perry Road, Exeter EX4 4QG, UK

{dagger} Author for correspondence (e-mail: n.hempel{at}exeter.ac.uk)

Accepted 21 April 2008

To find out how grouping of flowers into patches improves their detectability by hymenopteran pollinators, we trained honeybees and bumblebees to detect groups of three spatially separated disks and compared results with the detection limit for single disks. When the discs presented contrast to the long-wavelength-sensitive (L) receptor, grouping of disks improved the detectability. The disks were optically resolvable for the honeybee eye. The improvement of detectability was stronger for bumblebees than for honeybees. When disks did not present contrast to the L-receptor, the grouping did not improve the detectability, i.e. the detection limit was set by the size of a single disk. We conclude that in bees the neural mechanisms that improve detectability of grouped elements require input from the L-receptor. Our results indicate that grouping of flowers into sparse patches can improve their detectability by bees, even when individual flowers can be optically resolved by the eyes of bees, as long as flowers can be detected by the long-wavelength-sensitive receptor.


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