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One day is all it takes: circadian modulation of the retrieval of colour memories in honeybees

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Abstract

In this study, we examined how honeybees coped with successive tasks of colour discrimination with conflicting demands. Free-flying honeybees (Apis mellifera) were trained on tasks in which they had to choose one of three colours to obtain a reward of sugar water. In acquisition, the bees learned this task in about four trials of training. Colour memory was retained after 24-h delay in an unrewarded retention test. Integration experiments were then conducted in which the bees had to learn two successive tasks of colour discrimination with conflicting demands, task 1 for 20 trials and task 2 for ten trials. In task 1, one of three colours provided sugar water while the other two provided tap water, while in task 2 a different colour provided the reward. The bees were given unrewarded tests immediately after training on task 2 and then re-tested after 10 min, 22 h (circadian time of the start of task 1 training), or 24 h (circadian time of the end of task 2 training). Bees strongly preferred the rewarded colour for task 2 on immediate testing and after 10-min delay. After 22-h delay, they switched their preference to the rewarded colour for task 1. But after 24-h delay, the bees again strongly preferred the rewarded colour for task 2. Further tests at a number of delays between 0 and 22 h revealed a sigmoidal pattern of rise in the preference for the task 1 colour. We conclude that circadian time modulates the retrieval of colour memories in honeybees, even when all the training took place in a single day.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by a graduate student research fund from the Centre for the Integrative Study of Animal Behaviour, Macquarie University. CP was supported by a graduate scholarship from Macquarie University. Thanks are due to Sebastian Schwarz for help in collecting data and to Mark Peterson for maintaining the beehives. Portions of the results reported here were presented at the conference of the Entomological Society of Australia at Adelaide in 2006, at the meeting of the Australasian Society for the Study of Animal Behaviour at the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia in 2007, at the meeting of the Animal Behavior Society at Burlington, Vermont 2007 and at the International Ethological Conference at Halifax, Canada in 2007. The experiments comply with the current laws of Australia.

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  1. Centre for the Integrative Study of Animal Behaviour, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, 2109, Australia

    Catherine Prabhu & Ken Cheng

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  1. Catherine Prabhu
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  2. Ken Cheng
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Correspondence to Catherine Prabhu.

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Communicated by M. Giurfa

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Prabhu, C., Cheng, K. One day is all it takes: circadian modulation of the retrieval of colour memories in honeybees. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 63, 11–22 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-008-0631-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-008-0631-3

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