Bumblebees can discriminate between scent-marks deposited by conspecifics.
Bumblebees can discriminate between scent-marks deposited by conspecifics.
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DOI：
10.1038/srep43872
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发表时间：
2017-03-07
影响因子：
4.6
通讯作者：
Rands SA
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Pearce RF;Giuggioli L;Rands SA
无论在哪里降落，大黄蜂都会从它们的跗关节分泌一种物质，这种物质可以被同种生物检测到。这些分泌物被称为气味标记，大黄蜂可以用它作为社交线索。虽然已经发现大黄蜂可以探测到气味标记并将其与有益或无益的花联系起来，但它们区分不同亲缘大黄蜂气味标记的能力尚不清楚。我们对大黄蜂（Bombus terrestris）进行了三个独立的实验，在那里它们同时反复暴露在有回报和没有回报的人造花中。每种花型都带有来自不同亲缘的同种植物的气味标记，或者没有标记。我们发现大黄蜂能够区分1。2.没有标记的花和自己有气味标记的花。2 .自己做气味标记的花和巢中其他动物做气味标记的花。花的气味由它们的巢伴标记，花的气味由非巢伴标记。当两种花都有气味标记时，大黄蜂发现区分每种花更困难。我们的研究结果表明，大黄蜂有能力区分同种生物的气味标记，它们的化学成分可能非常相似，它们可以利用这种能力来提高它们的觅食成功率。
Bumblebees secrete a substance from their tarsi wherever they land, which can be detected by conspecifics. These secretions are referred to as scent-marks, which bumblebees are able to use as social cues. Although it has been found that bumblebees can detect and associate scent-marks with rewarding or unrewarding flowers, their ability at discriminating between scent-marks from bumblebees of differing relatedness is unknown. We performed three separate experiments with bumblebees (Bombus terrestris), where they were repeatedly exposed to rewarding and unrewarding artificial flowers simultaneously. Each flower type carried scent-marks from conspecifics of differing relatedness or were unmarked. We found that bumblebees are able to distinguish between 1. Unmarked flowers and flowers that they themselves had scent-marked, 2. Flowers scent-marked by themselves and flowers scent-marked by others in their nest (nestmates), and 3. Flowers scent-marked by their nestmates and flowers scent-marked by non-nestmates. The bumblebees found it more difficult to discriminate between each of the flower types when both flower types were scent-marked. Our findings show that bumblebees have the ability to discriminate between scent-marks of conspecifics, which are potentially very similar in their chemical composition, and they can use this ability to improve their foraging success.