Department of Biological Sciences, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN 37614, USA
Department of Biological Sciences, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN 37614, USA.
J Exp Biol. 2018 Nov 26;221(Pt 23):jeb187336. doi: 10.1242/jeb.187336.
Honey bee () foragers can remember both the location and time of day food is collected and, even in the absence of a reward, reconnoiter the food source at the appropriate time on subsequent days. This spatiotemporal memory (time-memory) is linked to the circadian clock and enables foragers to synchronize their behavior with floral nectar secretion rhythms, thus eliminating the need to rediscover productive food sources each day. Here, we asked whether the establishment of one time-memory influences the formation of another time-memory at the same time of day. In other words, can two time-place memories with the same 'time-stamp' co-exist? We simultaneously trained two groups of foragers from a single hive to two separate feeders at the same restricted time of day. After 5 days of training, one feeder was shut off. The second feeder continued being productive 4 more days. Our results showed that (1) foragers with high experience levels at the first source were significantly more likely than low-experience foragers to maintain fidelity to their original source and resist recruitment to the alternative source, (2) nearly one-third of foragers demonstrated multiple, overlapping time-memories by visiting both feeders at the correct time and (3) significantly more high-experience than low-experience foragers exhibited this multitasking behavior. The ability to maintain and act upon two different, yet contemporaneous, time-memories gives the forager bee a previously unknown level of versatility in attending to multiple food sources. These findings have major implications for understanding the formation and management of circadian spatiotemporal memories.
蜜蜂（）觅食者可以记住食物的位置和采集时间，即使没有奖励，它们也会在随后的几天中在适当的时间侦察食物源。这种时空记忆（时间记忆）与生物钟有关，使觅食者能够将它们的行为与花卉花蜜分泌节律同步，从而无需每天重新发现有生产力的食物源。在这里，我们想知道一天中的同一时间建立的一个时间记忆是否会影响另一个时间记忆的形成。换句话说，具有相同“时间戳”的两个时间-地点记忆能否共存？我们同时在同一天的同一限制时间内训练两组来自单个蜂巢的觅食者到两个单独的饲料器。经过 5 天的训练，一个饲料器关闭。第二个饲料器继续生产 4 天。我们的结果表明：（1）在第一个源具有高经验水平的觅食者比低经验水平的觅食者更有可能坚持忠于其原始源并抵制对替代源的招募，（2）近三分之一的觅食者通过在正确的时间访问两个饲料器来表现出多个重叠的时间记忆，（3）显著更多的高经验觅食者比低经验觅食者表现出这种多任务行为。维持和利用两个不同但同时发生的时间记忆的能力使觅食蜜蜂在关注多个食物源方面具有以前未知的多功能性。这些发现对理解生物钟时空记忆的形成和管理具有重大意义。
