A Novel Behavioral Assay to Investigate Gustatory Responses of Individual, Freely-moving Bumble Bees (Bombus terrestris).
A Novel Behavioral Assay to Investigate Gustatory Responses of Individual, Freely-moving Bumble Bees (Bombus terrestris).
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DOI：
10.3791/54233
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发表时间：
2016-07-21
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Wright G
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Ma C;Kessler S;Simpson A;Wright G
通才传粉者，如黄尾熊蜂（Bombus terrestris），在从开花植物收集的花蜜中遇到营养和毒素。只有少数研究描述了蜜蜂对食物中毒素的味觉反应，并且这些实验主要使用限制蜜蜂的喙延伸反应。在这里，提出了一种新的行为测定法，用于测量自由移动的个体工蜂对营养物质和毒素的摄食反应。该测定测量每只熊蜂摄入的溶液量，并确定食物中的促味剂如何影响摄食行为的微观结构。这些溶液在微毛细管中呈现给先前饥饿2-4小时的个体熊蜂。这些行为被捕获在数字视频上。通过使用事件记录软件从视频记录中连续记录长鼻（口器）的位置来分析进食行为的精细结构。长鼻的位置由三种不同的行为类别定义：（1）长鼻伸出并与溶液接触，（2）长鼻伸出但不与溶液接触，以及（3）长鼻收藏在头部下方。此外，还估计了长鼻从溶液缩回的速度。在本试验中，使用消耗的溶液体积、进食回合的次数、进食回合的持续时间和第一次接触后长鼻回缩的速度来评价测试化合物的吞噬刺激或威慑活性。这种新的味觉测定将使研究人员能够测量花蜜中发现的化合物如何影响蜜蜂的进食行为，也将有助于授粉生物学家，毒理学家和神经行为学家研究大黄蜂的味觉系统。
Generalist pollinators like the buff-tailed bumble bee, Bombus terrestris, encounter both nutrients and toxins in the floral nectar they collect from flowering plants. Only a few studies have described the gustatory responses of bees toward toxins in food, and these experiments have mainly used the proboscis extension response on restrained honey bees. Here, a new behavioral assay is presented for measuring the feeding responses of freely-moving, individual worker bumble bees to nutrients and toxins. This assay measures the amount of solution ingested by each bumble bee and identifies how tastants in food influence the microstructure of the feeding behavior. The solutions are presented in a microcapillary tube to individual bumble bees that have been previously starved for 2-4 hr. The behavior is captured on digital video. The fine structure of the feeding behavior is analyzed by continuously scoring the position of the proboscis (mouthparts) from video recordings using event logging software. The position of the proboscis is defined by three different behavioral categories: (1) proboscis is extended and in contact with the solution, (2) proboscis is extended but not in contact with the solution and (3) proboscis is stowed under the head. Furthermore the speed of the proboscis retracting away from the solution is also estimated. In the present assay the volume of solution consumed, the number of feeding bouts, the duration of the feeding bouts and the speed of the proboscis retraction after the first contact is used to evaluate the phagostimulatory or the deterrent activity of the compounds tested. This new taste assay will allow researchers to measure how compounds found in nectar influence the feeding behavior of bees and will also be useful to pollination biologists, toxicologists and neuroethologists studying the bumble bee's taste system.