Dissertation Research: Mechanisms of Food Recruitment

摘要 提案编号9623336 P.I.塞利和聂 美国国家科学基金会博士论文改进基金IBN-9623336：无刺蜜蜂，Melipona panamica的食物招募机制。 大型群居昆虫群体需要相当大的食物摄入量，但通常生活在食物来源广泛分散的竞争环境中。 面对这些限制，许多高度社会化的Hyattera家族昆虫已经进化出一种机制，将额外的巢友（新兵）带到新发现的饲料来源。 无刺蜂用来交流食物位置的机制多种多样，令人着迷，但人们对此知之甚少。 像许多蚂蚁一样，几个属的无刺蜂直接跟随觅食者去寻找食物来源（领航）或留下气味痕迹，然后被新兵跟随。 像蜜蜂一样，Melipona属的无刺蜜蜂可以使用声音来传达到食物源的距离。 最近的数据表明，Melipona panamica觅食者可以招募到一个特定的距离，方向和冠层水平，而不使用气味痕迹。 我们的目标是了解这些蜜蜂如何招募到一个特定的三维坐标系。 招募觅食者在巢穴内执行一系列有趣的旋转动作和脉冲声音。 觅食者似乎也会在巢外传达食物来源的方向，并在食物点存款一种身份不明的信息素，以进行局部定位。 实际的机制可能会提供一个新的解决方案的问题，沟通食物来源的位置，并将增加我们的理解复杂的机制，在昆虫社会的通信。

Abstract Proposal #9623336 P.I. Seeley and Nieh NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant IBN-9623336: Mechanisms of food recruitment in a stingless bee, Melipona panamica. Large Social insect colonies require a considerable food intake, yet usually live in competitive environments in which food sources are widely dispersed. Faced with these constraints, many highly social insects in the family Hymenoptera have evolved mechanisms to bring additional nestmates (recruits) to a newly discovered feed source. The mechanisms employed by stingless bees to communicate food location are diverse and fascinating, yet poorly understood. Like many ants, stingless bees in several genera directly follow foragers to feed source (piloting) or lay scent trails followed by recruits. Like honey bees, stingless bees in the genus Melipona may use sounds to communicate the distance to the food source. Recent data indicate that Melipona panamica foragers can recruit to a specific distance, direction and canopy level without using scent trails. Our goal is to understand how these bees recruit to a specific 3 dimensional set of coordinates. Recruiting foragers perform an intriguing sequence of spinning movements and pulsed sounds inside the nest. Foragers also appear to communicate the food source s direction outside the nest and deposit an unidentified pheromone at the food site for local orientation. The actual mechanisms may offer a novel solution to the problem of communicating food source location and will increase our understanding of complex mechanisms of communication in insect societies.