Honey Bee Location- and Time-Linked Memory Use in Novel Foraging Situations: Floral Color Dependency
1
Institute of Natural Sciences, National University of Columbia, Bogotá, Colombia
2
Department of Biological Science, University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK 74104, USA
3
Department of Psychology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Insects 2014, 5(1), 243-269; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects5010243
Received: 30 October 2013
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Revised: 17 January 2014
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Accepted: 28 January 2014
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Published: 14 February 2014
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Honey Bee Behavior)
Learning facilitates behavioral plasticity, leading to higher success rates when foraging. However, memory is of decreasing value with changes brought about by moving to novel resource locations or activity at different times of the day. These premises suggest a foraging model with location- and time-linked memory. Thus, each problem is novel, and selection should favor a maximum likelihood approach to achieve energy maximization results. Alternatively, information is potentially always applicable. This premise suggests a different foraging model, one where initial decisions should be based on previous learning regardless of the foraging site or time. Under this second model, no problem is considered novel, and selection should favor a Bayesian or pseudo-Bayesian approach to achieve energy maximization results. We tested these two models by offering honey bees a learning situation at one location in the morning, where nectar rewards differed between flower colors, and examined their behavior at a second location in the afternoon where rewards did not differ between flower colors. Both blue-yellow and blue-white dimorphic flower patches were used. Information learned in the morning was clearly used in the afternoon at a new foraging site. Memory was not location-time restricted in terms of use when visiting either flower color dimorphism.
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Keywords:
Apis mellifera; context; floral constancy; foraging; honey bee; search image; maximum likelihood; Bayesian
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MDPI and ACS Style
Amaya-Márquez, M.; Hill, P.S.M.; Abramson, C.I.; Wells, H. Honey Bee Location- and Time-Linked Memory Use in Novel Foraging Situations: Floral Color Dependency. Insects 2014, 5, 243-269. https://doi.org/10.3390/insects5010243
AMA Style
Amaya-Márquez M, Hill PSM, Abramson CI, Wells H. Honey Bee Location- and Time-Linked Memory Use in Novel Foraging Situations: Floral Color Dependency. Insects. 2014; 5(1):243-269. https://doi.org/10.3390/insects5010243
Chicago/Turabian StyleAmaya-Márquez, Marisol, Peggy S.M. Hill, Charles I. Abramson, and Harrington Wells. 2014. "Honey Bee Location- and Time-Linked Memory Use in Novel Foraging Situations: Floral Color Dependency" Insects 5, no. 1: 243-269. https://doi.org/10.3390/insects5010243
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