| Title: | Olfactory Learning in the Stingless Bee Melipona eburnea Friese (Apidae: Meliponini) |
| Author(s): | Amaya-Marquez M; Tusso S; Hernandez J; Jimenez JD; Wells H; Abramson I; |
| Address: | "Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogota 111321, Colombia. Science for Life Laboratories and Department of Evolutionary Biology, Norbyvagen 18D, Uppsala University, 75236 Uppsala, Sweden. Division of Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biology, LMU Munich, 82152 Grosshaderner Str. Planegg-Martinsried, Germany. Department of Biology, Tulsa University, Tulsa, OK 74104, USA. Department of Psychology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 2075-4450 (Print) 2075-4450 (Electronic) 2075-4450 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Olfactory learning and floral scents are co-adaptive traits in the plant-pollinator relationship. However, how scent relates to cognition and learning in the diverse group of Neotropical stingless bees is largely unknown. Here we evaluated the ability of Melipona eburnea to be conditioned to scent using the proboscis extension reflex (PER) protocol. Stingless bees did not show PER while harnessed but were able to be PER conditioned to scent when free-to-move in a mini-cage (fmPER). We evaluated the effect of: 1) unconditioned stimulus (US) reward, and 2) previous scent-reward associations on olfactory learning performance. When using unscented-US, PER-responses were low on day 1, but using scented-US reward the olfactory PER-response increased on day 1. On day 2 PER performance greatly increased in bees that previously had experienced the same odor and reward combination, while bees that experienced a different odor on day 2 showed poor olfactory learning. Bees showed higher olfactory PER conditioning to guava than to mango odor. The effect of the unconditioned stimulus reward was not a significant factor in the model on day 2. This indicates that olfactory learning performance can increase via either taste receptors or accumulated experience with the same odor. Our results have application in agriculture and pollination ecology" |
| Keywords: | "Free-moving-PER (fmPER) conditioning protocols learning olfactory conditioning, cognitive ecology pollinators scented-US stingless-bees;" |
| Notes: | "PubMed-not-MEDLINEAmaya-Marquez, Marisol Tusso, Sergio Hernandez, Juan Jimenez, Juan Dario Wells, Harrington I Abramson, Charles eng Switzerland 2019/11/23 Insects. 2019 Nov 18; 10(11):412. doi: 10.3390/insects10110412" |
