The regulation of task allocation within honeybee colonies via memory-based processes

学习在有机体调整其行为以适应不断变化的环境的能力中起着关键作用。蜜蜂具有令人印象深刻的学习和认知能力，这已被证明支持复杂的觅食行为。在蜂群内，蜜蜂工蜂似乎作为一个单一的功能单位发挥作用。工蚁将他们的劳动力分配到特定的任务上，以支持殖民地的需求。然而，生理种姓中工人分配的控制机制还不是很清楚，可能涉及基于经验的过程。在这项建议中，我们将使用最先进的遗传和行为跟踪方法来研究学习和记忆在控制群体内任务分配方面的作用。

Learning plays a pivotal role in the ability of an organism to adjust its behavior to a changing environment. Honeybees have impressive learning and cognitive capabilities that have been shown to support the sophisticated foraging behaviors. Within the colony honeybee workers seemingly function as a single functional unit. Workers allocate their work force to specific tasks to support the needs of the colony. However, the control mechanism of worker allocation within physiological castes is not well understood and may involve experience-based processes. In this proposal we will examine the role of learning and memory for the control of task allocation within the colony using state of the art genetic and behavioral tracking methods.