Innate movement rules in foraging bees: flight distances are affected by recent rewards and are correlated with choice of flower type |
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Authors: | T Keasar A Shmida Uzi Motro |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Evolution, Systematics and Ecology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 91904 Jerusalem, Israel, IL;(2) The Center for Rationality and Interactive Decision Theory, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 91904 Jerusalem, Israel, IL;(3) Department of Statistics, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 91904 Jerusalem, Israel, IL |
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Abstract: | The non-random movement patterns of foraging bees are believed to increase their search efficiency. These patterns may be
innate, or they may be learned through the bees’ early foraging experience. To identify the innate components of foraging
rules, we characterized the flight of naive bumblebees, foraging on a non-patchy “field” of randomly scattered artificial
flowers with three color displays. The flowers were randomly mixed and all three flower types offered equal nectar volumes.
Visited flowers were refilled with probability 0.5. Flight distances, flight durations and nectar probing durations were determined
and related to the bees’ recent experiences. The naive bees exhibited area-restricted search behavior, i.e., flew shorter
distances following visits to rewarding flowers than after visits to empty flowers. Additionally, flight distances during
flower-type transitions were longer than flight distances between flowers of the same type. The two movement rules operated
together: flight distances were longest for flights between flower types following non-rewarding visits, shortest for within-type
flights following rewarding visits. An increase in flight displacement during flower-type shifts was also observed in a second
experiment, in which all three types were always rewarding. In this experiment, flower-type shifts were also accompanied by
an increase in flight duration. Possible relationships between flight distances, flight durations and flower-type choice are
discussed.
Received: 20 November 1995/Accepted after revision: 10 May 1996 |
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Keywords: | Bumblebees Foraging Movement rules Innate behavior |
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