TY - JOUR
T1 - Foraging Experiences Durably Modulate Honey Bees’ Sucrose Responsiveness and Antennal Lobe Biogenic Amine Levels
AU - Finkelstein, Abby Basya
AU - Brent, Colin S.
AU - Giurfa, Martin
AU - Amdam, Gro
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank Jake Seemann, Achal Patel, Laren Schaper, Austin Huang, and Zamzam Hashi for invaluable assistance with experiment setup and sucrose responsiveness assays. Patrick Arrufat’s assistance was indispensable in creating the electric shock component of cages. Sabine Deviche and the ASU Vislab created the illustration in Figure 1 of the experimental setup. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program under Grant No. DGE-1311230 awarded to A.B.F. G.V.A. was supported by the Research Counsel of Norway, award #262137. M.G. was supported by the University Paul Sabatier of Toulouse and the French National Research Center (CNRS). Mention of trade names or commercial products in this article is solely for the purpose of providing specific information and does not imply recommendation or endorsement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, The Author(s).
PY - 2019/12/1
Y1 - 2019/12/1
N2 - Foraging exposes organisms to rewarding and aversive events, providing a selective advantage for maximizing the former while minimizing the latter. Honey bees (Apis mellifera) associate environmental stimuli with appetitive or aversive experiences, forming preferences for scents, locations, and visual cues. Preference formation is influenced by inter-individual variation in sensitivity to rewarding and aversive stimuli, which can be modulated by pharmacological manipulation of biogenic amines. We propose that foraging experiences act on biogenic amine pathways to induce enduring changes to stimulus responsiveness. To simulate varied foraging conditions, freely-moving bees were housed in cages where feeders offered combinations of sucrose solution, floral scents, and aversive electric shock. Transient effects were excluded by providing bees with neutral conditions for three days prior to all subsequent assays. Sucrose responsiveness was reduced in bees that had foraged for scented rather than unscented sucrose under benign conditions. This was not the case under aversive foraging conditions, suggesting an adaptive tuning process which maximizes preference for high quality, non-aversive floral sites. Foraging conditions also influenced antennal lobe octopamine and serotonin, neuromodulators involved in stimulus responsiveness and foraging site evaluation. Our results suggest that individuals’ foraging experiences durably modify neurochemistry and shape future foraging behaviour.
AB - Foraging exposes organisms to rewarding and aversive events, providing a selective advantage for maximizing the former while minimizing the latter. Honey bees (Apis mellifera) associate environmental stimuli with appetitive or aversive experiences, forming preferences for scents, locations, and visual cues. Preference formation is influenced by inter-individual variation in sensitivity to rewarding and aversive stimuli, which can be modulated by pharmacological manipulation of biogenic amines. We propose that foraging experiences act on biogenic amine pathways to induce enduring changes to stimulus responsiveness. To simulate varied foraging conditions, freely-moving bees were housed in cages where feeders offered combinations of sucrose solution, floral scents, and aversive electric shock. Transient effects were excluded by providing bees with neutral conditions for three days prior to all subsequent assays. Sucrose responsiveness was reduced in bees that had foraged for scented rather than unscented sucrose under benign conditions. This was not the case under aversive foraging conditions, suggesting an adaptive tuning process which maximizes preference for high quality, non-aversive floral sites. Foraging conditions also influenced antennal lobe octopamine and serotonin, neuromodulators involved in stimulus responsiveness and foraging site evaluation. Our results suggest that individuals’ foraging experiences durably modify neurochemistry and shape future foraging behaviour.
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U2 - 10.1038/s41598-019-41624-0
DO - 10.1038/s41598-019-41624-0
M3 - Article
C2 - 30931967
AN - SCOPUS:85063739909
SN - 2045-2322
VL - 9
JO - Scientific reports
JF - Scientific reports
IS - 1
M1 - 5393
ER -