Albeane Guimarães Silva, G. C. Carvalho, Ana Catarina De Miranda, F. Contrera, M. Rêgo
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Bees feed on nectar and pollen, however these resources are often available to floral visitors during restricted temporal windows. The presence of temporal memory is an advantage, as foragers can save energy by scheduling their flight activity to coincide with peaks of nectar secretion in the flowers or at times of higher sugar concentration in the nectar. Thus, the objectives of this study were (i) to investigate whether Melipona subnitida has temporal memory, and evaluate whether it becomes more accurate over the days, and (ii) to determine whether the behavior of anticipating the offered resource presents intra-individual consistency in the behavior of foragers. The visitation of the bees was high before and during the opening interval of the food resource, but rare after the closing, suggesting that M. subnitida has the ability to memorize the time of availability of the resource, increasing the accuracy over the days, with bees anticipating their visits in relation to the time they discovered the resource, and the opening time of the resource. There was individual consistency in the behavior of food-anticipatory activity, with the presence of bees that consistently anticipated in relation to the opening time of the resource (inspectors) and bees that consistently did not anticipate (reactivated forager) . By anticipating the search for a resource, foragers allow the group to exploit it effectively, as they exploit it in the first hours of its opening, and foragers that never anticipate avoid unnecessary risks of predation and energy expenditure.
期刊介绍:
SOCIOBIOLOGY publishes high quality articles that significantly contribute to the knowledge of Entomology, with emphasis on social insects. Articles previously submitted to other journals are not accepted. SOCIOBIOLOGY publishes original research papers and invited review articles on all aspects related to the biology, evolution and systematics of social and pre-social insects (Ants, Termites, Bees and Wasps). The journal is currently expanding its scope to incorporate the publication of articles dealing with other arthropods that exhibit sociality. Articles may cover a range of subjects such as ecology, ethology, morphology, population genetics, physiology, toxicology, reproduction, sociobiology, caste differentiation as well as economic impact and pest management.