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Margaret J. Couvillon Gloria DeGrandi-Hoffman Wulfila Gronenberg 《Die Naturwissenschaften》2010,97(2):153-160
Does cognitive ability always correlate with a positive fitness consequence? Previous research in both vertebrates and invertebrates provides mixed results. Here, we compare the learning and memory abilities of Africanized honeybees (Apis mellifera scutellata hybrid) and European honeybees (Apis mellifera ligustica). The range of the Africanized honeybee continues to expand, superseding the European honeybee, which led us to hypothesize that they might possess greater cognitive capabilities as revealed by a classical conditioning assay. Surprisingly, we found that fewer Africanized honeybees learn to associate an odor with a reward. Additionally, fewer Africanized honeybees remembered the association a day later. While Africanized honeybees are replacing European honeybees, our results show that they do so despite displaying a relatively poorer performance on an associative learning paradigm. 相似文献
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Although several neurobiological and genetic correlates of aging and behavioral development have been identified in social
insect workers, little is known about how other age-related physiological processes, such as muscle maturation, contribute
to task performance. We examined post-eclosion growth of three major muscles of the head capsule in major and minor workers
of the ant Pheidole dentata using workers of different ages with distinct task repertoires. Mandible closer muscle fibers, which provide bite force and
are thus critical for the use of the mandibles for biting and load carrying, fill the posterio-lateral portions of the head
capsule in mature, older workers of both subcastes. Mandible closer fibers of newly eclosed workers, in contrast, are significantly
thinner in both subcastes and grow during at least the next 6 days in minor workers, suggesting this muscle has reduced functionality
for a substantial period of adult life and thus constrains task performance capability. Fibers of the antennal muscles and
the pharynx dilator, which control antennal movements and food intake, respectively, also increase significantly in thickness
with age. However, these fibers are only slightly thinner in newly eclosed workers and attain their maximum thickness over
a shorter time span in minors. The different growth rates of these functionally distinct muscles likely have consequences
for how adult P. dentata workers, particularly minors, develop their full and diverse task repertoire as they age. Workers may be capable of feeding
and interacting socially soon after eclosion, but require a longer period of development to effectively use their mandibles,
which enable the efficient performance of tasks ranging from nursing to foraging and defense. 相似文献
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In many respects, the behavior of bumblebees is similar to that of the closely related honeybees, a long-standing model system
for learning and memory research. Living in smaller and less regulated colonies, bumblebees are physiologically more robust
and thus have advantages in particular for indoor experiments. Here, we report results on Pavlovian odor conditioning of bumblebees
using the proboscis extension reflex (PER) that has been successfully used in honeybee learning research. We examine the effect
of age, body size, and experience on learning and memory performance. We find that age does not affect learning and memory
ability, while body size positively correlates with memory performance. Foraging experience seems not to be necessary for
learning to occur, but it may contribute to learning performance as bumblebees with more foraging experience on average were
better learners. The PER represents a reliable tool for learning and memory research in bumblebees and allows examining interspecific
similarities and differences of honeybee and bumblebee behavior, which we discuss in the context of social organization. 相似文献
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Most animals show long-term modifications of their behavior which often reflect an adaptation to seasonal variations (e.g.,
hibernation) or result from changes in the animal's internal state (e.g., estrous cycle or sexual maturity). Such modifications
may substantially affect the nervous system [1, 2]. A particularly striking behavioral change can occur in workers of the
ant Harpegnathos. A few young workers in the colony may become reproductives and are thus confined to their dark nest chambers, whereas most
workers spend their lives as foragers, employing acute vision when hunting prey. This behavioral difference coincides with
a marked decrease in brain volume and with an even stronger reduction in the large visual brain centers. Instead of maintaining
superfluous brain functions, these ants reduce brain matter which is expensive to support.
Received: 8 September 1998 / Accepted: 16 March 1999 相似文献
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Insect societies are important models for evolutionary biology and sociobiology. The complexity of some eusocial insect societies
appears to arise from self-organized task allocation and group cohesion. One of the best-supported models explaining self-organized
task allocation in social insects is the response threshold model, which predicts specialization due to inter-individual variability
in sensitivity to task-associated stimuli. The model explains foraging task specialization among honeybee workers, but the
factors underlying the differences in individual sensitivity remain elusive. Here, we propose that in honeybees, sensory sensitivity
correlates with individual differences in the number of sensory structures, as it does in solitary species. Examining European
and Africanized honeybees, we introduce and test the hypothesis that body size and/or sensory allometry is associated with
foraging task preferences and resource exploitation. We focus on common morphological measures and on the size and number
of structures associated with olfactory sensitivity. We show that the number of olfactory sensilla is greater in pollen and
water foragers, which are known to exhibit higher sensory sensitivity, compared to nectar foragers. These differences are
independent of the distribution of size within a colony. Our data also suggest that body mass and number of olfactory sensilla
correlate with the concentration of nectar gathered by workers, and with the size of pollen loads they carry. We conclude
that sensory allometry, but not necessarily body size, is associated with resource exploitation in honeybees and that the
differences in number of sensilla may underlie the observed differences in sensitivity between bees specialized on water,
pollen and nectar collection. 相似文献
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