Abstract
It is known that the honeybee, Apis mellifera, uses olfactory stimulus as important information for orienting to food sources. Several studies on olfactory-induced orientation flight have been conducted in wind tunnels and in the field. From these studies, optical sensing is used as the main information with the addition of olfactory signals and the navigational course followed by these sensory information. However, it is not clear how olfactory information is reflected in the navigation of flight. In this study, we analyzed the detailed properties of flight when oriented to an odor source in a wind tunnel. We recorded flying bees with a video camera to analyze the flight area, speed, angular velocity and trajectory. After bees were trained to be attracted to a feeder, the flight trajectories with or without the olfactory stimulus located upwind of the feeder were compared. The results showed that honeybees flew back and forth in the proximity of the odor source, and the search range corresponded approximately to the odor spread area. It was also shown that the angular velocity was different inside and outside the odor spread area, and trajectories tended to be bent or curved just outside the area.
Highlights
It has been shown that a honeybee can remember the scent of a flower and mark it using pheromones during foraging [1,2]
Behaviors when approaching upwind of the odor source have been established for various insects, such as ants, flies and moths [6±15]
The honeybee, Apis mellifera, from a single hive kept on the Himeji-Kankyoningen campus of the University of Hyogo, 1-1-12 Shinzaike-Honcho, Himeji-shi, Hyogo 670-0092, Japan, was used throughout all our experiments
Summary
It has been shown that a honeybee can remember the scent of a flower and mark it using pheromones during foraging [1,2]. Studies have been carried out on how insects use odor signals for orientation in activities, such as foraging and mating. Behaviors when approaching upwind of the odor source have been established for various insects, such as ants, flies and moths [6±15]. Some moth species can approach pheromone sources using a zigzag flight [7,8,10]. In the case of the silkworm moth, programmed sequential behavior was observed with the acquisition of a pheromone, that is, walk straight, zigzag-turn and loop, by sensing a pulse of pheromone. A newly sensed pheromone resets this process [16]
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