First published online March 12, 2009
Journal of Experimental Biology 212, 994-1002 (2009)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2009
doi: 10.1242/jeb.021188
Impaired tactile learning is related to social role in honeybees
Ricarda Scheiner1,* and
Gro V. Amdam2,3
1 Technische Universität Berlin, Institut für Ökologie, FR 1-1,
Franklinstr. 28/29, D-10587 Berlin, Germany
2 School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, PO Box 874501 Tempe, AZ
85287, USA
3 Department of Chemistry, Biotechnology and Food Science, Norwegian University
of Life Sciences, PO Box 5003 N-1432 Aas, Norway
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Fig. 1. Median gustatory response scores (GRS, closed circles) and quartiles (upper
and lower lines) of bees tested for tactile acquisition in experiment 1. We
analysed foragers with short foraging durations (6–13 days) and
age-matched nurse bees as well as foragers with long foraging durations
(>15 days) and age-matched nurse bees. Note that in this experiment,
foragers with long foraging durations (>15 days) and age-matched nurse bees
were significantly older than foragers with short foraging durations
(6–13 days) and age-matched nurse bees (see
Table 1). There were no
significant differences in the GRS between the different groups (see
Table 3). In each group, 30
bees were tested.
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Fig. 3. Median gustatory response scores (GRS, closed circles) and quartiles (upper
and lower lines) of bees tested for tactile retention three days after
conditioning in experiment 1. We analysed foragers with short foraging
durations (6–13 days) and age-matched nurse bees as well as foragers
with long foraging durations (>15 days) and age-matched nurse bees. Only
bees that had an acquisition score of 1 or higher and that survived the last
retention test were analysed. There were no significant differences in the GRS
between the different groups (see Table
4). The numbers of bees in each group are: nurse bees 6–13
days, 19; foragers 6–13 days, 22; nurse bees >15 days, 22; foragers
>15 days, 14.
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Fig. 4. Retention after tactile conditioning in bees of different behavioural
groups (experiment 1). Percentage of bees showing the conditioned proboscis
extension response (PER) at different time points after conditioning is
presented. The only significant difference between groups is indicated:
*P 0.05. The numbers of bees in each group are: nurse
bees 6–13 days, 19; foragers 6–13 days, 22; nurse bees >15
days, 22; foragers >15 days, 14.
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Fig. 5. Median gustatory response scores (GRS, closed circles) and quartiles (upper
and lower lines) of bees tested for tactile acquisition in experiment 2. We
analysed foragers with short foraging durations (6–13 days) and
age-matched nurse bees as well as foragers with long foraging durations
(>15 days) and age-matched nurse bees. Note that in this experiment,
foragers with long foraging durations (>15 days) and age-matched nurse bees
were significantly younger than foragers with short foraging durations
(6–13 days) and age-matched nurse bees (see
Table 1). Foragers with long
foraging durations (>15 days) had significantly lower GRS than foragers
with short foraging durations (6–13 days)
(Table 3). This significant
difference is marked with an asterisk (*P0.05). The
other groups did not differ in their GRS. In each group, 30 bees were
tested.
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Fig. 6. (A) Median acquisition scores (closed circles) and quartiles (upper and
lower lines) for tactile antennal acquisition in bees with different
behavioural roles (experiment 2). We analysed foragers with short foraging
durations (6–13 days) and age-matched nurse bees as well as foragers
with long foraging durations (>15 days) and age-matched nurse bees. Note
that in this experiment, foragers with long foraging durations (>15 days)
and age-matched nurse bees were significantly younger than foragers with short
foraging durations (6–13 days) and age-matched nurse bees (see
Table 1). Significant
differences in the acquisition scores of groups are marked with asterisks.
***P0.001. (B) Tactile acquisition curves of bees in
experiment 2 with different behavioural roles. The percentage of bees showing
conditioned proboscis extension response (PER) during presentation of the
tactile object in each conditioning trial is shown for each behavioural group.
See text for statistics. In each group, 30 bees were tested.
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Fig. 7. Median gustatory response scores (GRS, closed circles) and quartiles (upper
and lower lines) of bees tested for tactile discrimination in experiment 2. We
analysed foragers with short foraging durations (6–13 days) and
age-matched nurse bees as well as foragers with long foraging durations
(>15 days) and age-matched nurse bees. Only bees that had an acquisition
score of 1 or higher were analysed for discrimination. The numbers of bees in
each group are: nurse bees 6–13 days, 27; foragers 6–13 days, 28;
nurse bees >15 days, 27; foragers >15 days, 20.
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Fig. 8. Median discrimination indices (closed circles) and quartiles (upper and
lower lines) of bees tested for discrimination after tactile conditioning
(experiment 2). There were no significant differences in the discrimination
indices of the four different groups. The numbers of bees in each group are:
nurse bees 6–13 days, 27; foragers 6–13 days, 28; nurse bees
>15 days, 27; foragers >15 days, 20.
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© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2009
