Issue |
Apidologie
Volume 32, Number 3, May-June 2001
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | 231 - 242 | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/apido:2001125 |
Apidologie 32 (2001) 231-242
Changes with age in olfactory conditioning performance of worker honey bees (Apis mellifera)
David Laloi, Marie Gallois, Bernard Roger and Minh-Hà Pham-DelègueLaboratoire de Neurobiologie Comparée des Invertébrés, INRA, BP 23, 91440 Bures-sur-Yvette, France
(Received 6 September 2000; revised 17 February 2001; accepted 26 February 2001)
Abstract
Proboscis extension reflex conditioning has often been used to study olfactory learning
in the honey bee. However, only a few studies have explored the variability of this
response relative to the age of the bees, and these studies have yielded different
conclusions. We aimed to document the effect of age on the proboscis extension
response by measuring three parameters in the experimental procedure: the level of
spontaneous responses, the acquisition rate, and the resistance to extinction.
The performance of the youngest bees (2-day and 4-day-old) differed from those
of older individuals for the three parameters, which may be related to the ontogeny
of the olfactory system. In older age-groups, only the resistance to extinction was
found to vary with age. We discuss the possible relationships between age-dependent
variations in the odour learning abilities and the division of labour in the colony.
Key words: honey bee / Apis mellifera / conditioned proboscis extension / age effect
Correspondence and reprints: Minh-Hà Pham-Delègue
e-mail: pham@jouy.inra.fr
© INRA, EDP Sciences, DIB, AGIB 2001