Ecology dictates the value of memory for foraging bees.

ABSTRACT: "Ecological intelligence" hypotheses posit that animal learning and memory evolve to meet the demands posed by foraging and, together with social intelligence and cognitive buffer hypotheses, provide a key framework for understanding cognitive evolution.^1-5 However, identifying the critical environments where cognitive investment reaps significant benefits has proved challenging.^6-8 Here, we capitalize upon seasonal variation in forage availability for a social insect model (Bombus terrestris audax) to establish how the benefits of short-term memory, assayed using a radial arm maze (RAM), vary with resource availability. Following a staggered design over 2 years, whereby bees from standardized colonies at identical life-history stages underwent cognitive testing befor

SUBMITTER: Pull CD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9616731 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature