Differences in the sleep architecture of forager and young honeybees(Apis mellifera)

Abstract

SUMMARYHoneybee (Apis mellifera) foragers are among the first invertebrates for which sleep behavior has been described. Foragers (typically older than 21 days) have strong circadian rhythms; they are active during the day, and sleep during the night. We explored whether young bees (~3 days of age), which are typically active around-the-clock with no circadian rhythms, also exhibit sleep behavior. We combined 24-hour video recordings, detailed behavioral observations, and analyses of response thresholds to a light pulse for individually housed bees in various arousal states. We characterized three sleep stages in foragers on the basis of differences in body posture, bout duration, antennae movements and response threshold. Young bees exhibited sleep behavior consisting of the same three stages as observed in foragers. Sleep was interrupted by brief awakenings, which were as frequent in young bees as in foragers. Beyond these similarities, we found differences in the sleep architecture of young bees and foragers. Young bees passed more frequently between the three sleep stages, and stayed longer in the lightest sleep stage than foragers. These differences in sleep architecture may represent developmental and/or environmentally induced variations in the neuronal network underlying sleep in honeybees. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first evidence for plasticity in sleep behavior in insects. Supplementary material available online at

The colony environment modulates sleep in honey bee workers

“…2B, repeated measures one-way ANOVA, d.f.=3, F colony S73 =23.78; F colony H1 =17.98; F colony H14 =37.03). These findings that are based on locomotor activity data are consistent with detailed behavioral observations of sleeping honey bee foragers (Eban-Rothschild and Bloch, 2008;Kaiser, 1988;Klein et al, 2008).…”

“…From 3 weeks of adult life, honey bee workers typically forage for pollen and nectar outside the hive (Robinson, 1992;Winston, 1987). The sleep behavior of honey bees has been studied both in the natural context of the colony (Kaiser, 1988;Klein and Seeley, 2011;Klein et al, 2008;Klein et al, 2010) and in detailed laboratory studies (Eban-Rothschild and Bloch, 2008;Kaiser, 1988;Sauer et al, 2003). Honey bees exhibit all three behavioral characteristics of sleep: a period of quiescence (Eban-Rothschild and Bloch, 2008;Kaiser, 1988;Sauer et al, 2003;Sauer et al, 2004), an increased response threshold (Eban-Rothschild and Bloch, 2008; Kaiser, 1988;Kaiser and Steiner-Kaiser, 1983) and a homeostatic regulation mechanism (Klein et al, 2010;Sauer et al, 2004).…”

“…The sleep behavior of honey bees has been studied both in the natural context of the colony (Kaiser, 1988;Klein and Seeley, 2011;Klein et al, 2008;Klein et al, 2010) and in detailed laboratory studies (Eban-Rothschild and Bloch, 2008;Kaiser, 1988;Sauer et al, 2003). Honey bees exhibit all three behavioral characteristics of sleep: a period of quiescence (Eban-Rothschild and Bloch, 2008;Kaiser, 1988;Sauer et al, 2003;Sauer et al, 2004), an increased response threshold (Eban-Rothschild and Bloch, 2008; Kaiser, 1988;Kaiser and Steiner-Kaiser, 1983) and a homeostatic regulation mechanism (Klein et al, 2010;Sauer et al, 2004). In honey bee foragers, as in mammals and flies, sleep deprivation impairs learning and memory processes (Beyaert et al, 2012;Hussaini et al, 2009;Klein et al, 2010), and forager bees induced to learn novel navigational tasks sleep longer than control bees (Beyaert et al, 2012).…”

Acute Sleep Deprivation Blocks Short- and Long-Term Operant Memory inAplysia

“…In Drosophila, although the majority of sleep occurs during the night, flies sleep a substantial amount during the day with males exhibiting more daytime sleep than females. 19,21,[70][71][72] Similarly, forager bees sleep primarily during the night [73][74][75] but also nap during the day. 76 In all other castes, sleep is distributed with approximately equal sleep occurring during the day and the night.…”

Call it sleep — what animals without backbones can tell us about the phylogeny of intrinsically generated neuromotor rhythms during early development

“…The only invertebrate species in which the postnatal development of sleep/wake behavior appears to have been systematically followed is the honey bee, Apis mellifera, the youngest specimens of which show highly fragmented sleep throughout the day and night [28] . Sleep episodes become fewer but longer as a clear-cut circadian rhythm develops, while the behavior pattern of worker bees changes from cleaning the hive to foraging for nectar.…”