Degree Name
MS (Master of Science)
Program
Biology
Date of Award
5-2007
Committee Chair or Co-Chairs
Darrell J. Moore
Committee Members
Karl H. Joplin, Timothy D. McDowell
Abstract
Experiments were performed to determine the influence of the honey bee time-memory on a forager bee's sensitivity to recruitment. Two groups of foragers from one colony were trained to separate food stations at the same restricted time of day for several consecutive days. Feeding then was canceled at one station but continued for four more days at the other. Bees with more days of training at a non-productive source were significantly less likely than foragers with less training to be recruited to an alternative food source presented at the same time of day. Furthermore, the ability of a forager to be recruited recovered after several days, but this recovery period was longer for bees with greater experience. These findings demonstrate a long-term influence of time-memory on subsequent foraging behavior, in contrast to currently accepted models for the allocation and re-allocation of honey bee foragers to food patches in the environment.
Document Type
Thesis - unrestricted
Recommended Citation
Otto, Matthew Walter, "The Long Term Effect of Time-Memory on Forager Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) Recruitment." (2007). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 2045. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/2045
Copyright
Copyright by the authors.