Patricia L Jones, Eric M Diaz, Neena E Goldthwaite, Hannah T Scotch, Sejal V Prachand, Eva R Ahn
{"title":"植物网络中的传粉者认知。","authors":"Patricia L Jones, Eric M Diaz, Neena E Goldthwaite, Hannah T Scotch, Sejal V Prachand, Eva R Ahn","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2025.0044","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Cognitive abilities evolve within the context of ecological communities. Honeybees and bumblebees have become model systems for cognitive ecology, but pollination is performed by a diverse group of insects under similar pressures to forage efficiently in a mixed floral community. We studied the colour learning abilities of six species of Hymenoptera (two eusocial bumblebees, a cuckoo bumblebee, two wasps and a leaf-cutter bee) within the context of an island plant community. We used records of insect visits to flowers in the field to determine the index of specialization of each species in the island plant-pollinator network, and measured the spectral reflectance of the flowers they visit. Species with higher specialization indices in our plant-pollinator network made a larger proportion of correct choices in a colour learning task than more generalist species. The more generalist species also visited a group of flowers more similar to each other in hymenopteran colour vision space. These results indicate that better colour learning abilities may enable insects to forage on plants of different colours, whereas more generalist insects are visiting flowers that are similar in colour, and therefore are less reliant on repeated colour learning to forage efficiently.</p>","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 5","pages":"20250044"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12115817/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Pollinator cognition in a plant network.\",\"authors\":\"Patricia L Jones, Eric M Diaz, Neena E Goldthwaite, Hannah T Scotch, Sejal V Prachand, Eva R Ahn\",\"doi\":\"10.1098/rsbl.2025.0044\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"<p><p>Cognitive abilities evolve within the context of ecological communities. Honeybees and bumblebees have become model systems for cognitive ecology, but pollination is performed by a diverse group of insects under similar pressures to forage efficiently in a mixed floral community. We studied the colour learning abilities of six species of Hymenoptera (two eusocial bumblebees, a cuckoo bumblebee, two wasps and a leaf-cutter bee) within the context of an island plant community. We used records of insect visits to flowers in the field to determine the index of specialization of each species in the island plant-pollinator network, and measured the spectral reflectance of the flowers they visit. Species with higher specialization indices in our plant-pollinator network made a larger proportion of correct choices in a colour learning task than more generalist species. The more generalist species also visited a group of flowers more similar to each other in hymenopteran colour vision space. These results indicate that better colour learning abilities may enable insects to forage on plants of different colours, whereas more generalist insects are visiting flowers that are similar in colour, and therefore are less reliant on repeated colour learning to forage efficiently.</p>\",\"PeriodicalId\":9005,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Biology Letters\",\"volume\":\"21 5\",\"pages\":\"20250044\"},\"PeriodicalIF\":3.0000,\"publicationDate\":\"2025-05-01\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12115817/pdf/\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Biology Letters\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"99\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2025.0044\",\"RegionNum\":2,\"RegionCategory\":\"生物学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"2025/5/28 0:00:00\",\"PubModel\":\"Epub\",\"JCR\":\"Q2\",\"JCRName\":\"BIOLOGY\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Biology Letters","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2025.0044","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/5/28 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
Cognitive abilities evolve within the context of ecological communities. Honeybees and bumblebees have become model systems for cognitive ecology, but pollination is performed by a diverse group of insects under similar pressures to forage efficiently in a mixed floral community. We studied the colour learning abilities of six species of Hymenoptera (two eusocial bumblebees, a cuckoo bumblebee, two wasps and a leaf-cutter bee) within the context of an island plant community. We used records of insect visits to flowers in the field to determine the index of specialization of each species in the island plant-pollinator network, and measured the spectral reflectance of the flowers they visit. Species with higher specialization indices in our plant-pollinator network made a larger proportion of correct choices in a colour learning task than more generalist species. The more generalist species also visited a group of flowers more similar to each other in hymenopteran colour vision space. These results indicate that better colour learning abilities may enable insects to forage on plants of different colours, whereas more generalist insects are visiting flowers that are similar in colour, and therefore are less reliant on repeated colour learning to forage efficiently.
期刊介绍:
Previously a supplement to Proceedings B, and launched as an independent journal in 2005, Biology Letters is a primarily online, peer-reviewed journal that publishes short, high-quality articles, reviews and opinion pieces from across the biological sciences. The scope of Biology Letters is vast - publishing high-quality research in any area of the biological sciences. However, we have particular strengths in the biology, evolution and ecology of whole organisms. We also publish in other areas of biology, such as molecular ecology and evolution, environmental science, and phylogenetics.