Inter-individual variability in the foraging behaviour of traplining bumblebees.

ABSTRACT: Workers of social insects, such as bees, ants and wasps, show some degree of inter-individual variability in decision-making, learning and memory. Whether these natural cognitive differences translate into distinct adaptive behavioural strategies is virtually unknown. Here we examined variability in the movement patterns of bumblebee foragers establishing routes between artificial flowers. We recorded all flower visitation sequences performed by 29 bees tested for 20 consecutive foraging bouts in three experimental arrays, each characterised by a unique spatial configuration of artificial flowers and three-dimensional landmarks. All bees started to develop efficient routes as they accumulated foraging experience in each array, and showed consistent inter-individual differences in their lev

SUBMITTER: Klein S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5496863 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature