Orientation flight behavior in honeybees released from open or covered containers — after or without displacement

Abstract

Bees captured at the feeding site were released either at a novel site or at the site at which they had been captured. Containers used during transport were either open or covered, thus allowing or preventing, respectively, free view of the panorama. Shortly before release, each bee, regardless of the covering mode used during displacement, was either (i) granted a view of the release site, (ii) allowed to see only overall brightness by covering the container with translucent drawing paper, or (iii) denied any view of the release site. Orientation flights performed by each bee upon release were recorded. Irrespective of whether they had been transported in open or covered containers, bees granted a view of the release site prior to release usually flew away without performing orientation flights, whereas bees prevented from viewing the release site performed intensive orientation flights. An intermediate intensity of orientation flights was displayed by bees leaving translucent containers. Assuming that the intensity of orientation flight is a measure of the state of orientation of the released bee, we conclude that view of the release site, but not view of the environment during displacement, is crucial for orientation.