Preferred viewing directions of bumblebees (Bombus terrestris L.) when learning and approaching their nest site
Preferred viewing directions of bumblebees (Bombus terrestris L.) when learning and approaching their nest site
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DOI：
10.1242/jeb.029751
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发表时间：
2009-10-15
影响因子：
2.8
通讯作者：
Collett, Thomas S.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
de Ibarra, Natalie Hempel;Philippides, Andrew;Collett, Thomas S.
许多蜜蜂和黄蜂在学习飞行中了解巢穴周围的环境，在学习飞行中，它们回头看巢穴，获得指导它们随后返回的视觉信息。在学习和返程飞行中，昆虫倾向于采用相似的观察方向，这简化了对巢的视觉引导。为了更好地理解决定昆虫选择特定观察方向的因素，我们记录了一只地面筑巢的大黄蜂在两种视觉环境中的学习和返回飞行——一个封闭的花园，北和西之间部分开放的视野，以及一个平坦的屋顶，更开放的全景。在这两个地方，蜜蜂离开并回到桌面中心一个不显眼的巢洞，这个洞附近有一个或多个圆柱体标记。在所有的实验中，蜜蜂在学习和返程飞行中都采用了类似的偏好方向。蜜蜂主要面向北方或南方，这表明存在两个吸引子。蜜蜂在吸引物之间的选择似乎受到光线分布（由天际线的形状决定）和风向的影响。在部分封闭的花园中，很少或没有风，蜜蜂一整天都倾向于面向北方，即朝向周围较亮的极点。当在桌子周围放置更均匀地分布天窗的白色窗帘时，蜜蜂既面向北方，也面向南方。当风分别从南方或北方吹来时，屋顶上的蜜蜂倾向于面向南方或北方。我们认为，蜜蜂在南北方向之间切换是一种妥协，既可以保持单一的观察方向，从而有效地进行基于视角的导航，也可以响应光的分布，以便更容易地发现地面上看到的地标，也可以响应风的方向，以利用嗅觉线索。
Many bees and wasps learn about the immediate surroundings of their nest during learning flights, in which they look back towards the nest and acquire visual information that guides their subsequent returns. Visual guidance to the nest is simplified by the insects' tendency to adopt similar viewing directions during learning and return flights. To understand better the factors determining the particular viewing directions that insects choose, we have recorded the learning and return flights of a ground-nesting bumblebee in two visual environments - an enclosed garden with a partly open view between north and west, and a flat roof with a more open panorama. In both places, bees left and returned to an inconspicuous nest hole in the centre of a tabletop, with the hole marked by one or more nearby cylinders. In all experiments, bees adopted similar preferred orientations on their learning and return flights. Bees faced predominantly either north or south, suggesting the existence of two attractors. The bees' selection between attractors seems to be influenced both by the distribution of light, as determined by the shape of the skyline, and by the direction of wind. In the partly enclosed garden with little or no wind, bees tended to face north throughout the day, i.e. towards the pole in the brighter half of their surroundings. When white curtains, which distributed skylight more evenly, were placed around the table, bees faced both north and south. The bees on the roof tended to face south or north when the wind came from a wide arc of directions from the south or north, respectively. We suggest that bees switch facing orientation between north and south as a compromise between maintaining a single viewing direction for efficient view-based navigation and responding to the distribution of light for the easier detection of landmarks seen against the ground or to the direction of the wind for exploiting olfactory cues.