| Title: | Intensity and the ratios of compounds in the scent of snapdragon flowers affect scent discrimination by honeybees (Apis mellifera) |
| Author(s): | Wright GA; Lutmerding A; Dudareva N; Smith BH; |
| Address: | "Department Entomology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA. wright.571@osu.edu" |
| Journal Title: | J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s00359-004-0576-6 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 0340-7594 (Print) 0340-7594 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Floral scent is used by pollinators during foraging to identify and discriminate among flowers. The ability to discriminate among scents may depend on both scent intensity and the ratios of the concentrations of the volatile compounds of a complex mixture rather than on the presence of a few compounds. We used four scent-emitting cultivars of snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus) to test this hypothesis by examining the ability of honeybees to differentiate among their scents. Each cultivar produced three monoterpenes (myrcene, E-beta-ocimene, and linalool) and five phenylpropanoids (methylbenzoate, acetophenone, dimethoxytoluene, cis-methylcinnamate, and trans-methylcinnamate). Cultivars were reliably classified by their scents in a canonical discriminant analysis. Honeybees were unable to discriminate among the scents of flowers of the same cultivar in our assay. The ability of honeybees to discriminate among the scents of different cultivars was a function of the intensity of the floral scent. Discrimination was also correlated to the distance among the scents described by the discriminant analysis; the cultivars that had the greatest differences observed in the discriminant analysis were the easiest to discriminate. Our results show that honeybees are capable of using all of the floral volatiles to discriminate subtle differences in scent" |
| Keywords: | "Animals Antirrhinum/classification/*metabolism Bees/drug effects/*physiology Behavior, Animal/drug effects/physiology Chemotactic Factors/metabolism/*pharmacology Chemotaxis/drug effects/*physiology Differential Threshold/drug effects/*physiology Discrimi;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineWright, Geraldine A Lutmerding, Amy Dudareva, Natalia Smith, Brian H eng 9 R01 RR1466/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/ Comparative Study Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S. Germany 2005/02/16 J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol. 2005 Feb; 191(2):105-14. doi: 10.1007/s00359-004-0576-6. Epub 2004 Nov 16" |
