Rao Sujaya, Ostroverkhova Oksana
Department of Crop and Soil Science, Oregon State University, 3017 ALS, Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA,
J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol. 2015 Jul;201(7):705-16. doi: 10.1007/s00359-015-0983-x. Epub 2015 Feb 10.
Bees have ultraviolet (UV), blue and green photoreceptor types in their compound eyes with which they locate food sources in landscapes that change continuously in cues emanating from plants and backgrounds against which they are perceived. The complexity of bee vision has been elucidated through studies examining individual species under laboratory conditions. Here, we used a bee-attractive fluorescent blue trap as a model for analyzing visual signals in operation outdoors, and across bee species. We manipulated trap color (appearance to humans under light with weak UV component) and UV-induced fluorescence emission, and aligned field capture results with bee vision models. Our studies show that the bees were attracted to traps that under solar illumination exhibited strong fluorescence emission exclusively in the blue spectral region. Through quantitative analysis, we established that strong spectral overlap of trap emittance with the photosensitivity characteristic of the blue receptor type and minimal overlap with those of the other two receptor types is the most critical property of attractive traps. A parameter has been identified which predicts the degree of attractiveness of the traps and which captures trends in the field data across wild bee species and for a diversity of backgrounds.
蜜蜂的复眼中有紫外线（UV）、蓝色和绿色感光受体类型，它们利用这些受体在不断变化的景观中定位食物来源，这些景观中的线索来自植物以及它们所感知的背景。通过在实验室条件下对单个物种进行研究，蜜蜂视觉的复杂性已得到阐明。在这里，我们使用一种吸引蜜蜂的荧光蓝色诱捕器作为模型，来分析户外运行中的视觉信号以及不同蜜蜂物种的视觉信号。我们操控诱捕器的颜色（在紫外线成分较弱的光线下人类所看到的外观）和紫外线诱导的荧光发射，并将野外捕获结果与蜜蜂视觉模型进行比对。我们的研究表明，蜜蜂被在太阳光照下仅在蓝色光谱区域发出强烈荧光的诱捕器所吸引。通过定量分析，我们确定诱捕器发射光与蓝色受体类型的光敏特性有很强的光谱重叠，而与其他两种受体类型的重叠最小，这是有吸引力的诱捕器的最关键特性。我们已经确定了一个参数，它可以预测诱捕器的吸引力程度，并能捕捉野外数据中不同野生蜜蜂物种以及各种背景下的趋势。
