TY - JOUR
T1 - Cognitive aging is linked to social role in honey bees (Apis mellifera)
AU - Behrends, Andreas
AU - Scheiner, Ricarda
AU - Baker, Nicholas
AU - Amdam, Gro
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Benedikt Polaczek and M. Kim Fondrk for expert knowledge and advice on beekeeping. We thank Birgit Klose and Tomasz Olszewski for their help with behavioral experiments, and Thomas Flatt for helpful comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by the Norwegian Research Council (#171958, #175413), the National Science Foundation (#0615502), the PEW Foundation (to G.V.A.) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SCHE 1573/1-1) (to R.S).
PY - 2007/12
Y1 - 2007/12
N2 - Aging is associated with cognitive impairment in numerous animal species. Across taxa, decline in learning performance is linked to chronological age. The honey bee (Apis mellifera), in contrast, offers an opportunity to study such aspects of aging largely independent of age per se. This is because foraging onset can be decoupled from chronological age, although workers typically first perform tasks inside the nest and later forage outside the hive. Further, early phases of foraging are characterized by growth of specific brain neuropiles, whereas late phases of the forager life-stage are accompanied by accelerated rates of physiological senescence. Yet, it is unclear if these patterns of senescence include cognitive function. The flexibility of worker ontogeny, however, suggests that the bee can become an attractive model for studies of plasticity in cognitive aging that ultimately may lead to insight into mechanisms that govern age-related cognitive decline. To address this potential, we studied effects of honey bee chronological age and of social role on sensory sensitivity and associative olfactory learning performance. Our results show a decline in olfactory acquisition performance that is linked to social role, but not to chronological age. This decline occurs only in foragers with long foraging duration, but at the same time the foragers show less generalization of odors, which is indicative of more precise learning. Foragers that are reversed from foraging to nest tasks, furthermore, do not show deficits in olfactory acquisition. These results point to complex effects of aging on associative learning in honey bees.
AB - Aging is associated with cognitive impairment in numerous animal species. Across taxa, decline in learning performance is linked to chronological age. The honey bee (Apis mellifera), in contrast, offers an opportunity to study such aspects of aging largely independent of age per se. This is because foraging onset can be decoupled from chronological age, although workers typically first perform tasks inside the nest and later forage outside the hive. Further, early phases of foraging are characterized by growth of specific brain neuropiles, whereas late phases of the forager life-stage are accompanied by accelerated rates of physiological senescence. Yet, it is unclear if these patterns of senescence include cognitive function. The flexibility of worker ontogeny, however, suggests that the bee can become an attractive model for studies of plasticity in cognitive aging that ultimately may lead to insight into mechanisms that govern age-related cognitive decline. To address this potential, we studied effects of honey bee chronological age and of social role on sensory sensitivity and associative olfactory learning performance. Our results show a decline in olfactory acquisition performance that is linked to social role, but not to chronological age. This decline occurs only in foragers with long foraging duration, but at the same time the foragers show less generalization of odors, which is indicative of more precise learning. Foragers that are reversed from foraging to nest tasks, furthermore, do not show deficits in olfactory acquisition. These results point to complex effects of aging on associative learning in honey bees.
KW - Associative learning
KW - Behavior
KW - Gustatory responsiveness
KW - Olfactory conditioning
KW - Plasticity of aging
KW - Proboscis extension response
KW - Senescence
KW - Social role
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U2 - 10.1016/j.exger.2007.09.003
DO - 10.1016/j.exger.2007.09.003
M3 - Article
C2 - 17976939
AN - SCOPUS:35848964794
SN - 0531-5565
VL - 42
SP - 1146
EP - 1153
JO - Experimental Gerontology
JF - Experimental Gerontology
IS - 12
ER -