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Use of Flower Color-Cue Memory by Honey Bee Foragers Continues when Rewards No Longer Differ between Flower Colors

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Abstract

Honey bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) were used as a model insect system to explore forager use of a learned color-cue memory over several subsequent days. Experiments used artificial flower patches of blue and white flowers. Two experiments were performed, each beginning with a learning experience where 2 M sucrose was present in one flower color and 1 M sucrose in the alternative flower color. The first experiment followed flower color fidelity over a series of sequential days when rewards no longer differed between flowers of different color. The second examined the effect of intervening days without the forager visiting the flower patch. Results showed that color-cue memory decline was not a passive time-decay process and that information update in honey bees does not occur readily without new experiences of difference in rewarding flowers. Further, although the color cue learned was associated with nectar reward in long term memory, it did not seem to be specifically associated with the 2 M sucrose nectar reward when intervening nights occurred between learning and revisiting the flower patch.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the following institutions: The National University of Colombia, Oklahoma State University, and The University of Tulsa for their support. Writing of this work was supported in part by National Science Foundation grants OISE–1545803 and NSF-REU (2016-1560389.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia

    Marisol Amaya-Márquez

  2. Laboratory of Comparative Psychology and Behavioral Biology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA

    Charles I. Abramson

  3. Department of Biological Science, University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK, USA

    Harrington Wells

Authors
  1. Marisol Amaya-Márquez
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  2. Charles I. Abramson
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  3. Harrington Wells
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Correspondence to Marisol Amaya-Márquez.

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Amaya-Márquez, M., Abramson, C.I. & Wells, H. Use of Flower Color-Cue Memory by Honey Bee Foragers Continues when Rewards No Longer Differ between Flower Colors. J Insect Behav 30, 728–740 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10905-017-9653-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10905-017-9653-x

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