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  - Reim, Tina
A1  - Thamm, Markus
A1  - Rolke, Daniel
A1  - Blenau, Wolfgang
A1  - Scheiner, Ricarda
T1  - Suitability of three common reference genes for quantitative real-time PCR in honey bees
JF  - Apidologie : a quality journal in bee science
N2  - Honey bees are important model organisms for neurobiology, because they display a large array of behaviors. To link behavior with individual gene function, quantitative polymerase chain reaction is frequently used. Comparing gene expression of different individuals requires data normalization using adequate reference genes. These should ideally be expressed stably throughout lifetime. Unfortunately, this is frequently not the case. We studied how well three commonly used reference genes are suited for this purpose and measured gene expression in the brains of honey bees differing in age and social role. Although rpl32 is used most frequently, it only remains stable in expression between newly emerged bees, nurse-aged bees, and pollen foragers but shows a peak at the age of 12 days. The genes gapdh and ef1 alpha-f1, in contrast, are expressed stably in the brain throughout all age groups except newly emerged bees. According to stability software, gapdh was expressed most stably, followed by rpl32 and ef1 alpha-f1.
KW  - gene expression
KW  - quantitative PCR
KW  - reference gene
KW  - stability program
KW  - Apis mellifera
Y1  - 2013
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1007/s13592-012-0184-3
SN  - 0044-8435
VL  - 44
IS  - 3
SP  - 342
EP  - 350
PB  - Springer
CY  - Paris
ER  -