Ontogeny of orientation flight in the honeybee revealed by harmonic radar

Abstract

Cognitive ethology focuses on the study of animals under natural conditions to reveal ecologically adapted modes of learning. But biologists can more easily study what an animal learns than how it learns. For example, honeybees take repeated 'orientation' flights before becoming foragers at about three weeks of age. These flights are a prerequisite for successful homing. Little is known about these flights because orienting bees rapidly fly out of the range of human observation. Using harmonic radar, we show for the first time a striking ontogeny to honeybee orientation flights. With increased experience, bees hold trip duration constant but fly faster, so later trips cover a larger area than earlier trips. In addition, each flight is typically restricted to a narrow sector around the hive. Orientation flights provide honeybees with repeated opportunities to view the hive and landscape features from different viewpoints, suggesting that bees learn the local landscape in a progressive fashion. We also show that these changes in orientation flight are related to the number of previous flights taken instead of chronological age, suggesting a learning process adapted to changes in weather conditions, flower availability and the needs of bee colonies.

Cognition in Invertebrates

“…Indeed, it was found that bees lacking route training were able to return to the nest from sites all around the hive, located several hundred meters away , a range over which orientation flights are performed (Capaldi et al, 2000). Comparing such bees with those trained along a route showed that the working memory of the route dominated initial navigation, leading the animals in the wrong direction and first suppressing the memory that later quickly leads the animals back to their goal (the hive).…”

“…Training bees along a route will establish a particular spatial memory structure, and very different forms of spatial memory may result from exploratory orientation flights that bees perform before beginning their foraging life (von Frisch, 1967;Capaldi et al, 2000). Indeed, it was found that bees lacking route training were able to return to the nest from sites all around the hive, located several hundred meters away , a range over which orientation flights are performed (Capaldi et al, 2000).…”

Weight of evidence evaluation of a network of adverse outcome pathways linking activation of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor in honey bees to colony death

“…In preparation for foraging, a new forager embarks on a number of orientation flights to identify and learn landmarks for navigation to and from the hive (Capaldi et al, 2000). Such navigational information includes using the sun azimuth as a visual compass and for estimating distance (Fischer et al, 2014).…”

Untitled

“…This research field, together with similar entomological studies, is skewed towards ground radar applications (e.g. Capaldi et al, 2000). Yet, the ability of animal populations such as seals to induce temperature changes in the environment (McCafferty et al, 1999) is an indication of the potential of thermal infrared remote sensing, provided sufficient spatial resolution is available.…”