Cognitive phenotypes and their functional differences in the honey bee, Apis mellifera

Abstract

Interindividual variation in cognitive ability has been widely reported across a diverse array of taxa and has recently been modelled as a broad consequence of a speed–accuracy trade-off. This trade-off can result in alternative cognitive phenotypes, which in turn could be associated with differences in behavioural and life history traits. While a growing body of literature suggests that performance in certain cognitive and behavioural traits do covary, multiple traits must be measured at these different levels to understand how differences in cognition determine variation in other traits. We tested for the presence of distinct cognitive phenotypes in the honey bee, Apis mellifera, by measuring multiple cognitive traits and determining whether these traits covary in a manner that can be used to define a cognitive axis. Our results indicate the presence of two distinct cognitive phenotypes that meet the predictions of the speed–accuracy trade-off such that fast bees are described by high associative learning, high preference for novelty and high preference for variance, compared to slow bees, and that these differences are consistent across colonies. We then determined whether there were functional differences between these two cognitive phenotypes by measuring their performance in several behavioural and life history traits. We found that fast bees also engaged in more nursing behaviour and transitioned to becoming foragers at an earlier age but we detected no difference in their social behaviour or survival. We discuss our results in terms of their possible implications for social behaviour and the pace-of-life hypothesis.