DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Modulation of Active Learning Behavior in the Context of Foraging

fred C. Dyer，首席研究员，动物学教授cynthia A. Wei，动物学博士研究生摘要蜜蜂具有一种非凡的能力，可以反复返回到它们发现的特定花丛中。这种能力的关键是一种被称为学习飞行的行为。这些飞行是在离开食物来源时进行的，可以让蜜蜂收集食物附近地标的视觉信息，然后帮助蜜蜂找到返回的路。这些飞行的表现是一种调制行为；蜜蜂在最初的几次访问中通常会飞行更长时间，在随后的访问中，飞行的持续时间会减少。这就提出了一个基本问题：蜜蜂是如何决定飞行的时间和时间的？对这个问题的回答将有助于更好地理解学习是一个积极的决策过程。在Fred Dyer的指导下，Cynthia Wei的论文工作迄今为止已经精确地记录了各种因素影响学习飞行时间调制的方式。该奖项支持的工作将通过在更自然的觅食环境中研究学习飞行时间的调节来扩展这些先前的发现。具体目标是：1)表征自然花丛中花蜜质量可用性变化对学习飞行发生的响应；2)确定花蜜体积和浓度对学习飞行诱导的影响；3)确定观察到的学习飞行发生对随后觅食空间模式的影响。这项研究将进一步阐明动物为响应不断变化的空间信息需求而做出学习决策的过程。这也将有助于更好地理解学习如何影响空间觅食模式的变化以及由此产生的对觅食成功的影响。总的来说，这项工作将有助于更清晰地了解动物的觅食生态如何塑造学习机制。

Modulation of active learning behavior in the context of foragingFred C. Dyer, Principal Investigator, Professor of ZoologyCynthia A. Wei, Doctoral Candidate in ZoologyAbstract Honeybees possess the remarkable ability to repeatedly return to specific flower patches that they have discovered. Essential to this ability is a behavior known as a learning flight. These flights, which are performed upon departure from a food source, allow a bee to collect visual information about landmarks nearby the food, which then help the bee find her way back. The performance of these flights is a modulated behavior; bees typically perform longer flights during the first few visits, and in subsequent visits, the durations of the flights decline. This raises a fundamental question: How do bees determine when and for how long to perform these flights? Answers to this question will provide greater understanding of learning as an active decision making process. The dissertation work of Cynthia Wei, under the guidance of Fred Dyer, has so far documented precise ways in which various factors influence the modulation of learning flight duration. The work supported by this award will expand upon these prior findings by studying the modulation of learning flight duration in a more natural foraging context. The specific goals are 1) to characterize the occurrence of learning flights in response to a change in nectar quality availability in a natural flower patch, 2) to determine the influence of nectar volume and concentration on the induction of learning flights, and 3) to determine the effect of observed occurrences of learning flights on subsequent spatial patterns of foraging. This research will further illuminate the processes by which animals make decisions to learn in response to changing needs for spatial information. It will also lead to a better understanding of how learning affects changes in spatial foraging patterns and the resulting implications for foraging success. Collectively, this work will help develop a clearer picture of how mechanisms of learning have been shaped by an animal's foraging ecology.