Bumble-bee foragers infected by a gut parasite have an impaired ability to utilize floral information
Bumble-bee foragers infected by a gut parasite have an impaired ability to utilize floral information
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DOI：
10.1098/rspb.2005.3423
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发表时间：
2006-05-07
影响因子：
4.7
通讯作者：
Thomson, JD
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Gegear, RJ;Otterstatter, MC;Thomson, JD
寄生虫感染可以影响动物的各种行为机制，但人们对感染对生态相关行为背后的认知过程的影响知之甚少。在这里，我们研究了寄生虫感染是否改变了社会昆虫，大黄蜂（熊蜂）觅食的认知方面。在对照实验中，我们评估了觅食蜜蜂的能力，区分奖励从非奖励花的颜色和气味的基础上。我们发现，原生动物寄生虫（Crithidia bombi，只生活在肠道内）的自然和实验感染，削弱了觅食者学习奖励花颜色的能力。因此，寄生虫感染可以破坏介导大黄蜂认知过程的中枢神经系统通路，从而降低它们监测花卉资源和做出经济觅食决策的能力。据推测，这种感染引起的大黄蜂认知功能的变化是免疫系统和神经系统之间交流的结果。因此，包括无脊椎动物在内的寄生动物可能会表现出微妙的行为变化，但这些变化在生态上具有重要意义，并反映了复杂的机制。
Parasitic infection can influence a variety of behavioural mechanisms in animals, but little is known about the effects of infection on the cognitive processes underlying ecologically relevant behaviours. Here, we examined whether parasitic infection alters cognitive aspects of foraging in a social insect, the bumble-bee (Bombus impatiens). In controlled experiments, we assessed the ability of foraging bees to discriminate rewarding from non-rewarding flowers on the basis of colour and odour. We found that natural and experimental infection by a protozoan parasite (Crithidia bombi, which lives exclusively within the gut tract), impaired the ability of foragers to learn the colour of rewarding flowers. Parasitic infection can thus disrupt central nervous system pathways that mediate cognitive processes in bumble-bees and as a consequence, can reduce their ability to monitor floral resources and make economic foraging decisions. It is postulated that this infection-induced change to cognitive function in bumble-bees is the result of communication between immune and nervous systems. Parasitized animals, including invertebrates, can therefore show subtle behavioural changes that are nonetheless ecologically significant and reflect complex mechanisms.