Abstract
Division of labor, where thousands of individuals perform specific behavioral acts repeatedly and nonrandomly, is the hallmark of insect societies. Virtually nothing is known about the underlying neurophysiological processes that direct individuals into specific behavioral roles. We demonstrate that sensory-physiological variation in the perception of sucrose in honeybees measured when they are 1 week old correlates with their foraging behavior 2-3 weeks later. Workers with the lowest response thresholds became water foragers, followed with increasing response thresholds by pollen foragers, nectar foragers, bees collecting both pollen and nectar, and finally those returning to the colony empty (water<pollen<nectar<both<empty). Sucrose concentrations of nectar loads were positively correlated with response thresholds measured on 1-week-old bees. These results demonstrated how the variable response thresholds of a sensory-physiological process, the perception of sucrose, is causally linked to the division of labor of foraging.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 265-267 |
Number of pages | 3 |
Journal | Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology |
Volume | 47 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Mar 2000 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Behavior
- Foraging
- Honeybee
- Neuroethology
- Response thresholds
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
- Animal Science and Zoology