TY - JOUR A1 - Scheiner, Ricarda A1 - Toteva, Anna A1 - Reim, Tina A1 - Sovik, Eirik A1 - Barron, Andrew B. T1 - Differences in the phototaxis of pollen and nectar foraging honey bees are related to their octopamine brain titers JF - Frontiers in physiology N2 - The biogenic amine octopamine is an important neuromodulator, neurohormone and neurotransmitter in insects. We here investigate the role of octopamine signaling in honey bee phototaxis. Our results show that groups of bees differ naturally in their phototaxis. Pollen forgers display a lower light responsiveness than nectar foragers. The lower phototaxis of pollen foragers coincides with higher octopamine titers in the optic lobes but is independent of octopamine receptor gene expression. Increasing octopamine brain titers reduces responsiveness to light, while tyramine application enhances phototaxis. These findings suggest an involvement of octopamine signaling in honey bee phototaxis and possibly division of labor, which is hypothesized to be based on individual differences in sensory responsiveness. KW - biogenic amines KW - tyramine KW - division of labor KW - honey bee KW - light responsiveness KW - insect KW - behavior Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2014.00116 SN - 1664-042X VL - 5 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scheiner, Ricarda A1 - Abramson, Charles I. A1 - Brodschneider, Robert A1 - Crailsheim, Karl A1 - Farina, Walter M. A1 - Fuchs, Stefan A1 - Grünewald, Bernd A1 - Hahshold, Sybille A1 - Karrer, Marlene A1 - Koeniger, Gudrun A1 - Königer, Niko A1 - Menzel, Randolf A1 - Mujagic, Samir A1 - Radspieler, Gerald A1 - Schmickl, Thomas A1 - Schneider, Christof A1 - Siegel, Adam J. A1 - Szopek, Martina A1 - Thenius, Ronald T1 - Standard methods for behavioural studies of Apis mellifera JF - Journal of apicultural research N2 - In this BEEBOOK paper we present a set of established methods for quantifying honey bee behaviour. We start with general methods for preparing bees for behavioural assays. Then we introduce assays for quantifying sensory responsiveness to gustatory, visual and olfactory stimuli. Presentation of more complex behaviours like appetitive and aversive learning under controlled laboratory conditions and learning paradigms under free-flying conditions will allow the reader to investigate a large range of cognitive skills in honey bees. Honey bees are very sensitive to changing temperatures. We therefore present experiments which aim at analysing honey bee locomotion in temperature gradients. The complex flight behaviour of honey bees can be investigated under controlled conditions in the laboratory or with sophisticated technologies like harmonic radar or RFID in the field. These methods will be explained in detail in different sections. Honey bees are model organisms in behavioural biology for their complex yet plastic division of labour. To observe the daily behaviour of individual bees in a colony, classical observation hives are very useful. The setting up and use of typical observation hives will be the focus of another section. The honey bee dance language has important characteristics of a real language and has been the focus of numerous studies. We here discuss the background of the honey bee dance language and describe how it can be studied. Finally, the mating of a honey bee queen with drones is essential to survival of the entire colony. We here give detailed and structured information how the mating behaviour of drones and queens can be observed and experimentally manipulated. The ultimate goal of this chapter is to provide the reader with a comprehensive set of experimental protocols for detailed studies on all aspects of honey bee behaviour including investigation of pesticide and insecticide effects. KW - COLOSS KW - BEEBOOK KW - honey bee KW - behaviour KW - gustatory responsiveness KW - olfactory responsiveness KW - phototaxis KW - non-associative learning KW - associative learning KW - appetitive learning KW - aversive learning KW - locomotion KW - temperature sensing KW - honey bee flight KW - observation hive KW - honey bee dance KW - honey bee navigation KW - harmonic radar KW - BeeScan KW - RFID KW - honey bee mating KW - free-flying honey bees Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3896/IBRA.1.52.4.04 SN - 0021-8839 SN - 2078-6913 VL - 52 IS - 4 PB - International Bee Research Association CY - Cardiff ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Behrends, Andreas A1 - Scheiner, Ricarda T1 - Octopamine improves learning in newly emerged bees but not in old foragers JF - JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY N2 - Honey bees (Apis mellifera) are well known for their excellent learning abilities. Although most age groups learn quickly to associate an odor with a sucrose reward, newly emerged bees and old foragers often perform poorly. For a long time, the reason for the poor learning performance of these age groups was unclear. We show that reduced sensitivity for sucrose is the cause for poor associative learning in newly emerged bees but not in old foragers. By increasing the sensitivity for sucrose through octopamine, we selectively improved the learning performance of insensitive newly emerged bees. Interestingly, the learning performance of foragers experiencing the same treatment remained low, despite the observed increase in sensitivity for the reward. We thus demonstrate that increasing sensitivity for the reward can improve the associative learning performance of bees when they are young but not when they had foraged for a long time. Importantly, octopamine can have very different effects on bees, depending on their initial sensory sensitivity. These differential effects of octopamine have important consequences for interpreting the action of biogenic amines on insect behavior. KW - honey bee KW - PER KW - olfactory conditioning KW - ageing KW - sucrose responsiveness Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.063297 SN - 0022-0949 VL - 215 IS - 7 SP - 1076 EP - 1083 PB - COMPANY OF BIOLOGISTS LTD CY - CAMBRIDGE ER -