Gil Mariana, De Marco Rodrigo J
Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Departamento de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Celular, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Universitaria, Pabellón II, C1428EHA, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Biol Lett. 2006 Mar 22;2(1):98-100. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2005.0361.
Early studies indicate that Apis mellifera bees learn nectar odours within their colonies. This form of olfactory learning, however, has not been analysed by measuring well-quantifiable learning performances and the question remains whether it constitutes a 'robust' form of learning. Hence, we asked whether bees acquire long-term olfactory memories within the colony. To this end, we used the bee proboscis extension response. We found that within-the-nest bees do indeed associate the odour (as the conditioned stimulus) with the sugar (as the unconditioned stimulus) present in the incoming nectar, and that the distribution of scented nectar within the colony allows them to establish long-term olfactory memories. This finding is discussed in the context of efficient foraging.
早期研究表明，意大利蜜蜂在其蜂群内学习花蜜气味。然而，这种嗅觉学习形式尚未通过测量可精确量化的学习表现来进行分析，问题仍然是它是否构成一种“稳健”的学习形式。因此，我们询问蜜蜂是否在蜂群内形成长期嗅觉记忆。为此，我们利用了蜜蜂的喙伸展反应。我们发现，巢内的蜜蜂确实会将气味（作为条件刺激）与进入的花蜜中存在的糖分（作为非条件刺激）联系起来，并且花蜜在蜂群内的分布使它们能够建立长期嗅觉记忆。这一发现将在高效觅食的背景下进行讨论。
