1
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Young FJ, Alcalde Anton A, Melo-Flórez L, Couto A, Foley J, Monllor M, McMillan WO, Montgomery SH. Enhanced long-term memory and increased mushroom body plasticity in Heliconius butterflies. iScience 2024; 27:108949. [PMID: 38357666 PMCID: PMC10864207 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.108949] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2023] [Revised: 11/27/2023] [Accepted: 01/15/2024] [Indexed: 02/16/2024] Open
Abstract
Heliconius butterflies exhibit expanded mushroom bodies, a key brain region for learning and memory in insects, and a novel foraging strategy unique among Lepidoptera - traplining for pollen. We tested visual long-term memory across six Heliconius and outgroup Heliconiini species. Heliconius species exhibited greater fidelity to learned colors after eight days without reinforcement, with further evidence of recall at 13 days. We also measured the plastic response of the mushroom body calyces over this time period, finding substantial post-eclosion expansion and synaptic pruning in the calyx of Heliconius erato, but not in the outgroup Heliconiini Dryas iulia. In Heliconius erato, visual associative learning experience specifically was associated with a greater retention of synapses and recall accuracy was positively correlated with synapse number. These results suggest that increases in the size of specific brain regions and changes in their plastic response to experience may coevolve to support novel behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fletcher J. Young
- Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Gamboa, Panama
- School of Biological Science, University of Bristol, 24 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TQ, UK
| | - Amaia Alcalde Anton
- School of Biological Science, University of Bristol, 24 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TQ, UK
| | | | - Antoine Couto
- School of Biological Science, University of Bristol, 24 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TQ, UK
| | - Jessica Foley
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Gamboa, Panama
- School of Biological Science, University of Bristol, 24 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TQ, UK
| | | | | | - Stephen H. Montgomery
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Gamboa, Panama
- School of Biological Science, University of Bristol, 24 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TQ, UK
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2
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Robert T, Tarapata K, Nityananda V. Learning modifies attention during bumblebee visual search. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2024; 78:22. [PMID: 38333735 PMCID: PMC10847365 DOI: 10.1007/s00265-024-03432-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2023] [Revised: 12/15/2023] [Accepted: 01/12/2024] [Indexed: 02/10/2024]
Abstract
Abstract The role of visual search during bee foraging is relatively understudied compared to the choices made by bees. As bees learn about rewards, we predicted that visual search would be modified to prioritise rewarding flowers. To test this, we ran an experiment testing how bee search differs in the initial and later part of training as they learn about flowers with either higher- or lower-quality rewards. We then ran an experiment to see how this prior training with reward influences their search on a subsequent task with different flowers. We used the time spent inspecting flowers as a measure of attention and found that learning increased attention to rewards and away from unrewarding flowers. Higher quality rewards led to decreased attention to non-flower regions, but lower quality rewards did not. Prior experience of lower rewards also led to more attention to higher rewards compared to unrewarding flowers and non-flower regions. Our results suggest that flowers would elicit differences in bee search behaviour depending on the sugar content of their nectar. They also demonstrate the utility of studying visual search and have important implications for understanding the pollination ecology of flowers with different qualities of reward. Significance statement Studies investigating how foraging bees learn about reward typically focus on the choices made by the bees. How bees deploy attention and visual search during foraging is less well studied. We analysed flight videos to characterise visual search as bees learn which flowers are rewarding. We found that learning increases the focus of bees on flower regions. We also found that the quality of the reward a flower offers influences how much bees search in non-flower areas. This means that a flower with lower reward attracts less focussed foraging compared to one with a higher reward. Since flowers do differ in floral reward, this has important implications for how focussed pollinators will be on different flowers. Our approach of looking at search behaviour and attention thus advances our understanding of the cognitive ecology of pollination. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00265-024-03432-z.
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Affiliation(s)
- Théo Robert
- Biosciences Institute, Newcastle University, Henry Wellcome Building, Framlington Place, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE2 4HH UK
| | - Karolina Tarapata
- Biosciences Institute, Newcastle University, Henry Wellcome Building, Framlington Place, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE2 4HH UK
| | - Vivek Nityananda
- Biosciences Institute, Newcastle University, Henry Wellcome Building, Framlington Place, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE2 4HH UK
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3
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Manfredini F, Wurm Y, Sumner S, Leadbeater E. Transcriptomic responses to location learning by honeybee dancers are partly mirrored in the brains of dance-followers. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20232274. [PMID: 38113935 PMCID: PMC10730293 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.2274] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2023] [Accepted: 11/20/2023] [Indexed: 12/21/2023] Open
Abstract
The waggle dances of honeybees are a strikingly complex form of animal communication that underlie the collective foraging behaviour of colonies. The mechanisms by which bees assess the locations of forage sites that they have visited for representation on the dancefloor are now well-understood, but few studies have considered the remarkable backward translation of such information into flight vectors by dance-followers. Here, we explore whether the gene expression patterns that are induced through individual learning about foraging locations are mirrored when bees learn about those same locations from their nest-mates. We first confirmed that the mushroom bodies of honeybee dancers show a specific transcriptomic response to learning about distance, and then showed that approximately 5% of those genes were also differentially expressed by bees that follow dances for the same foraging sites, but had never visited them. A subset of these genes were also differentially expressed when we manipulated distance perception through an optic flow paradigm, and responses to learning about target direction were also in part mirrored in the brains of dance followers. Our findings show a molecular footprint of the transfer of learnt information from one animal to another through this extraordinary communication system, highlighting the dynamic role of the genome in mediating even very short-term behavioural changes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabio Manfredini
- Present address: School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, AB24 3UL Aberdeen, UK
- Department of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, TW20 OEX Egham, UK
| | - Yannick Wurm
- School of Biological & Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, E1 4NS London, UK
- Digital Environment Research Institute, Queen Mary University of London, E1 4NS London, UK
| | - Seirian Sumner
- Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, WC1E 6BT London, UK
| | - Ellouise Leadbeater
- Department of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, TW20 OEX Egham, UK
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4
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Prentice PM, Thornton A, Kolm N, Wilson AJ. Genetic and context-specific effects on individual inhibitory control performance in the guppy (Poecilia reticulata). J Evol Biol 2023; 36:1796-1810. [PMID: 37916730 PMCID: PMC10947024 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.14241] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2023] [Revised: 09/12/2023] [Accepted: 09/19/2023] [Indexed: 11/03/2023]
Abstract
Among-individual variation in cognitive traits, widely assumed to have evolved under adaptive processes, is increasingly being demonstrated across animal taxa. As variation among individuals is required for natural selection, characterizing individual differences and their heritability is important to understand how cognitive traits evolve. Here, we use a quantitative genetic study of wild-type guppies repeatedly exposed to a 'detour task' to test for genetic variance in the cognitive trait of inhibitory control. We also test for genotype-by-environment interactions (GxE) by testing related fish under alternative experimental treatments (transparent vs. semi-transparent barrier in the detour-task). We find among-individual variation in detour task performance, consistent with differences in inhibitory control. However, analysis of GxE reveals that heritable factors only contribute to performance variation in one treatment. This suggests that the adaptive evolutionary potential of inhibitory control (and/or other latent variables contributing to task performance) may be highly sensitive to environmental conditions. The presence of GxE also implies that the plastic response of detour task performance to treatment environment is genetically variable. Our results are consistent with a scenario where variation in individual inhibitory control stems from complex interactions between heritable and plastic components.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pamela M. Prentice
- Centre for Ecology and ConservationUniversity of ExeterPenrynUK
- SRUC, Easter Bush, Roslin Institute BuildingMidlothianUK
| | - Alex Thornton
- Centre for Ecology and ConservationUniversity of ExeterPenrynUK
| | - Niclas Kolm
- Department of ZoologyStockholm UniversityStockholmSweden
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5
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Ganguly I, Heckman EL, Litwin-Kumar A, Clowney EJ, Behnia R. Diversity of visual inputs to Kenyon cells of the Drosophila mushroom body. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.10.12.561793. [PMID: 37873086 PMCID: PMC10592809 DOI: 10.1101/2023.10.12.561793] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2023]
Abstract
The arthropod mushroom body is well-studied as an expansion layer that represents olfactory stimuli and links them to contingent events. However, 8% of mushroom body Kenyon cells in Drosophila melanogaster receive predominantly visual input, and their tuning and function are poorly understood. Here, we use the FlyWire adult whole-brain connectome to identify inputs to visual Kenyon cells. The types of visual neurons we identify are similar across hemispheres and connectomes with certain inputs highly overrepresented. Many visual projection neurons presynaptic to Kenyon cells receive input from large swathes of visual space, while local visual interneurons, providing smaller fractions of input, receive more spatially restricted signals that may be tuned to specific features of the visual scene. Like olfactory Kenyon cells, visual Kenyon cells receive sparse inputs from different combinations of visual channels, including inputs from multiple optic lobe neuropils. The sets of inputs to individual visual Kenyon cells are consistent with random sampling of available inputs. These connectivity patterns suggest that visual coding in the mushroom body, like olfactory coding, is sparse, distributed, and combinatorial. However, the expansion coding properties appear different, with a specific repertoire of visual inputs projecting onto a relatively small number of visual Kenyon cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ishani Ganguly
- The Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
- Center for Theoretical Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
| | - Emily L Heckman
- Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Ashok Litwin-Kumar
- The Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
- Center for Theoretical Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
| | - E Josephine Clowney
- Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
- Michigan Neuroscience Institute Affiliate
| | - Rudy Behnia
- The Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
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6
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MaBouDi H, Marshall JAR, Dearden N, Barron AB. How honey bees make fast and accurate decisions. eLife 2023; 12:e86176. [PMID: 37365884 PMCID: PMC10299826 DOI: 10.7554/elife.86176] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2023] [Accepted: 05/24/2023] [Indexed: 06/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Honey bee ecology demands they make both rapid and accurate assessments of which flowers are most likely to offer them nectar or pollen. To understand the mechanisms of honey bee decision-making, we examined their speed and accuracy of both flower acceptance and rejection decisions. We used a controlled flight arena that varied both the likelihood of a stimulus offering reward and punishment and the quality of evidence for stimuli. We found that the sophistication of honey bee decision-making rivalled that reported for primates. Their decisions were sensitive to both the quality and reliability of evidence. Acceptance responses had higher accuracy than rejection responses and were more sensitive to changes in available evidence and reward likelihood. Fast acceptances were more likely to be correct than slower acceptances; a phenomenon also seen in primates and indicative that the evidence threshold for a decision changes dynamically with sampling time. To investigate the minimally sufficient circuitry required for these decision-making capacities, we developed a novel model of decision-making. Our model can be mapped to known pathways in the insect brain and is neurobiologically plausible. Our model proposes a system for robust autonomous decision-making with potential application in robotics.
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Affiliation(s)
- HaDi MaBouDi
- Department of Computer Science, University of SheffieldSheffieldUnited Kingdom
- Sheffield Neuroscience Institute, University of SheffieldSheffieldUnited Kingdom
| | - James AR Marshall
- Department of Computer Science, University of SheffieldSheffieldUnited Kingdom
- Sheffield Neuroscience Institute, University of SheffieldSheffieldUnited Kingdom
| | - Neville Dearden
- Department of Computer Science, University of SheffieldSheffieldUnited Kingdom
| | - Andrew B Barron
- Department of Computer Science, University of SheffieldSheffieldUnited Kingdom
- School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie UniversityNorth RydeAustralia
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7
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Kaila L, Antinoja A, Toivonen M, Jalli M, Loukola OJ. Oral exposure to thiacloprid-based pesticide (Calypso SC480) causes physical poisoning symptoms and impairs the cognitive abilities of bumble bees. BMC Ecol Evol 2023; 23:9. [PMID: 37020270 PMCID: PMC10077645 DOI: 10.1186/s12862-023-02111-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2022] [Accepted: 03/22/2023] [Indexed: 04/07/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Pesticides are identified as one of the major reasons for the global pollinator decline. However, the sublethal effects of pesticide residue levels found in pollen and nectar on pollinators have been studied little. The aim of our research was to study whether oral exposure to the thiacloprid levels found in pollen and nectar affect the learning and long-term memory of bumble bees. We tested the effects of two exposure levels of thiacloprid-based pesticide (Calypso SC480) on buff-tailed bumble bee (Bombus terrestris) in laboratory utilizing a learning performance and memory tasks designed to be difficult enough to reveal large variations across the individuals. RESULTS The lower exposure level of the thiacloprid-based pesticide impaired the bees' learning performance but not long-term memory compared to the untreated controls. The higher exposure level caused severe acute symptoms, due to which we were not able to test the learning and memory. CONCLUSIONS Our results show that oral exposure to a thiacloprid-based pesticide, calculated based on residue levels found in pollen and nectar, not only causes sublethal effects but also acute lethal effects on bumble bees. Our study underlines an urgent demand for better understanding of pesticide residues in the environment, and of the effects of those residue levels on pollinators. These findings fill the gap in the existing knowledge and help the scientific community and policymakers to enhance the sustainable use of pesticides.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lotta Kaila
- Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 27, 00014, Helsinki, Finland.
- Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), Latokartanonkaari 9, 00790, Helsinki, Finland.
| | - Anna Antinoja
- Ecology and Genetics Research Unit, University of Oulu, PO Box 3000, 90014, Oulu, Finland
- Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Inst of Entomology, and Univ. of South Bohemia, Faculty of Science, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic
| | - Marjaana Toivonen
- Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), Biodiversity Centre, Latokartanonkaari 11, 00790, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Marja Jalli
- Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), Tietotie 4, 31600, Jokioinen, Finland
| | - Olli J Loukola
- Ecology and Genetics Research Unit, University of Oulu, PO Box 3000, 90014, Oulu, Finland
- Biodiversity Unit, University of Oulu, University of Oulu, PO Box 3000, 90014, Oulu, Finland
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8
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Helander M, Lehtonen TK, Saikkonen K, Despains L, Nyckees D, Antinoja A, Solvi C, Loukola OJ. Field-realistic acute exposure to glyphosate-based herbicide impairs fine-color discrimination in bumblebees. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2023; 857:159298. [PMID: 36216073 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.159298] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2022] [Revised: 10/02/2022] [Accepted: 10/04/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Pollinator decline is a grave challenge worldwide. One of the main culprits for this decline is the widespread use of, and pollinators' chronic exposure to, agrochemicals. Here, we examined the effect of a field-realistic dose of the world's most commonly used pesticide, glyphosate-based herbicide (GBH), on bumblebee cognition. We experimentally tested bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) color and scent discrimination using acute GBH exposure, approximating a field-realistic dose from a day's foraging in a patch recently sprayed with GBH. In a 10-color discrimination experiment with five learning bouts, GBH treated bumblebees' learning rate fell to zero by third learning bout, whereas the control bees increased their performance in the last two bouts. In the memory test, the GBH treated bumblebees performed to near chance level, indicating that they had lost everything they had learned during the learning bouts, while the control bees were performing close to the level in their last learning bout. However, GBH did not affect bees' learning in a 2-color or 10-odor discrimination experiment, which suggests that the impact is limited to fine color learning and does not necessarily generalize to less specific tasks or other modalities. These results indicate that the widely used pesticide damages bumblebees' fine-color discrimination, which is essential to the pollinator's individual success and to colony fitness in complex foraging environments. Hence, our study suggests that acute sublethal exposure to GBH poses a greater threat to pollination-based ecosystem services than previously thought, and that tests for learning and memory should be integrated into pesticide risk assessment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marjo Helander
- Department of Biology, University of Turku, FI-20014 Turku, Finland.
| | - Topi K Lehtonen
- Ecology and Genetics Research Unit, University of Oulu, FI-90570 Oulu, Finland; Natural Resources Institute Finland, FI-90570 Oulu, Finland
| | - Kari Saikkonen
- Biodiversity Unit, University of Turku, FI-20014 Turku, Finland
| | - Léo Despains
- Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale, Centre de Biologie Intégrative, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, 118 route de Narbonne, F-31062 Toulouse cedex 9, France
| | - Danae Nyckees
- Laboratory of Entomology, Wageningen University, 6700 AA Wageningen, the Netherlands
| | - Anna Antinoja
- Ecology and Genetics Research Unit, University of Oulu, FI-90570 Oulu, Finland
| | - Cwyn Solvi
- Ecology and Genetics Research Unit, University of Oulu, FI-90570 Oulu, Finland
| | - Olli J Loukola
- Ecology and Genetics Research Unit, University of Oulu, FI-90570 Oulu, Finland
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9
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Finke V, Scheiner R, Giurfa M, Avarguès-Weber A. Individual consistency in the learning abilities of honey bees: cognitive specialization within sensory and reinforcement modalities. Anim Cogn 2023; 26:909-928. [PMID: 36609813 PMCID: PMC10066154 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-022-01741-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2022] [Revised: 12/19/2022] [Accepted: 12/30/2022] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
The question of whether individuals perform consistently across a variety of cognitive tasks is relevant for studies of comparative cognition. The honey bee (Apis mellifera) is an appropriate model to study cognitive consistency as its learning can be studied in multiple elemental and non-elemental learning tasks. We took advantage of this possibility and studied if the ability of honey bees to learn a simple discrimination correlates with their ability to solve two tasks of higher complexity, reversal learning and negative patterning. We performed four experiments in which we varied the sensory modality of the stimuli (visual or olfactory) and the type (Pavlovian or operant) and complexity (elemental or non-elemental) of conditioning to examine if stable correlated performances could be observed across experiments. Across all experiments, an individual's proficiency to learn the simple discrimination task was positively and significantly correlated with performance in both reversal learning and negative patterning, while the performances in reversal learning and negative patterning were positively, yet not significantly correlated. These results suggest that correlated performances across learning paradigms represent a distinct cognitive characteristic of bees. Further research is necessary to examine if individual cognitive consistency can be found in other insect species as a common characteristic of insect brains.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valerie Finke
- Zoologie II, Biozentrum, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074, Würzburg, Germany. .,Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale (CRCA), Centre de Biologie Intégrative (CBI), Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, 118 Route de Narbonne, 31062, Toulouse, France.
| | - Ricarda Scheiner
- Zoologie II, Biozentrum, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Martin Giurfa
- Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale (CRCA), Centre de Biologie Intégrative (CBI), Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, 118 Route de Narbonne, 31062, Toulouse, France.,Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France
| | - Aurore Avarguès-Weber
- Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale (CRCA), Centre de Biologie Intégrative (CBI), Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, 118 Route de Narbonne, 31062, Toulouse, France
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10
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Azorsa F, Muscedere ML, Traniello JFA. Socioecology and Evolutionary Neurobiology of Predatory Ants. Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2021.804200] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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11
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Li L, Solvi C, Zhang F, Qi Z, Chittka L, Zhao W. Gut microbiome drives individual memory variation in bumblebees. Nat Commun 2021; 12:6588. [PMID: 34824201 PMCID: PMC8616916 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-26833-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2021] [Accepted: 10/25/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The potential of the gut microbiome as a driver of individual cognitive differences in natural populations of animals remains unexplored. Here, using metagenomic sequencing of individual bumblebee hindguts, we find a positive correlation between the abundance of Lactobacillus Firm-5 cluster and memory retention on a visual discrimination task. Supplementation with the Firm-5 species Lactobacillus apis, but not other non-Firm-5 bacterial species, enhances bees' memory. Untargeted metabolomics after L. apis supplementation show increased LPA (14:0) glycerophospholipid in the haemolymph. Oral administration of the LPA increases long-term memory significantly. Based on our findings and metagenomic/metabolomic analyses, we propose a molecular pathway for this gut-brain interaction. Our results provide insights into proximate and ultimate causes of cognitive differences in natural bumblebee populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Li Li
- State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, School of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu, 214122, China
| | - Cwyn Solvi
- Ecology and Genetics Research Unit, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
- School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, E1 4NS, UK
| | - Feng Zhang
- Affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu, 214122, China
| | - Zhaoyang Qi
- State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, School of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu, 214122, China
| | - Lars Chittka
- School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, E1 4NS, UK
| | - Wei Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, School of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu, 214122, China.
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12
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Finke V, Baracchi D, Giurfa M, Scheiner R, Avarguès-Weber A. Evidence of cognitive specialization in an insect: proficiency is maintained across elemental and higher-order visual learning but not between sensory modalities in honey bees. J Exp Biol 2021; 224:273769. [PMID: 34664669 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.242470] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2021] [Accepted: 10/14/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Individuals differing in their cognitive abilities and foraging strategies may confer a valuable benefit to their social groups as variability may help responding flexibly in scenarios with different resource availability. Individual learning proficiency may either be absolute or vary with the complexity or the nature of the problem considered. Determining if learning abilities correlate between tasks of different complexity or between sensory modalities has a high interest for research on brain modularity and task-dependent specialisation of neural circuits. The honeybee Apis mellifera constitutes an attractive model to address this question due to its capacity to successfully learn a large range of tasks in various sensory domains. Here we studied whether the performance of individual bees in a simple visual discrimination task (a discrimination between two visual shapes) is stable over time and correlates with their capacity to solve either a higher-order visual task (a conceptual discrimination based on spatial relations between objects) or an elemental olfactory task (a discrimination between two odorants). We found that individual learning proficiency within a given task was maintained over time and that some individuals performed consistently better than others within the visual modality, thus showing consistent aptitude across visual tasks of different complexity. By contrast, performance in the elemental visual-learning task did not predict performance in the equivalent elemental olfactory task. Overall, our results suggest the existence of cognitive specialisation within the hive, which may contribute to ecological social success.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valerie Finke
- Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale (CRCA), Centre de Biologie Intégrative (CBI), Université de Toulouse; CNRS, UPS, 118 Route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse, France.,Biozentrum, Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany
| | - David Baracchi
- Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale (CRCA), Centre de Biologie Intégrative (CBI), Université de Toulouse; CNRS, UPS, 118 Route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse, France.,Department of Biology, University of Florence, Via Madonna del Piano 6, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy
| | - Martin Giurfa
- Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale (CRCA), Centre de Biologie Intégrative (CBI), Université de Toulouse; CNRS, UPS, 118 Route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse, France.,Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France
| | - Ricarda Scheiner
- Biozentrum, Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany
| | - Aurore Avarguès-Weber
- Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale (CRCA), Centre de Biologie Intégrative (CBI), Université de Toulouse; CNRS, UPS, 118 Route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse, France
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13
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Westwick RR, Rittschof CC. Insects Provide Unique Systems to Investigate How Early-Life Experience Alters the Brain and Behavior. Front Behav Neurosci 2021; 15:660464. [PMID: 33967715 PMCID: PMC8097038 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2021.660464] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2021] [Accepted: 03/16/2021] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Early-life experiences have strong and long-lasting consequences for behavior in a surprising diversity of animals. Determining which environmental inputs cause behavioral change, how this information becomes neurobiologically encoded, and the functional consequences of these changes remain fundamental puzzles relevant to diverse fields from evolutionary biology to the health sciences. Here we explore how insects provide unique opportunities for comparative study of developmental behavioral plasticity. Insects have sophisticated behavior and cognitive abilities, and they are frequently studied in their natural environments, which provides an ecological and adaptive perspective that is often more limited in lab-based vertebrate models. A range of cues, from relatively simple cues like temperature to complex social information, influence insect behavior. This variety provides experimentally tractable opportunities to study diverse neural plasticity mechanisms. Insects also have a wide range of neurodevelopmental trajectories while sharing many developmental plasticity mechanisms with vertebrates. In addition, some insects retain only subsets of their juvenile neuronal population in adulthood, narrowing the targets for detailed study of cellular plasticity mechanisms. Insects and vertebrates share many of the same knowledge gaps pertaining to developmental behavioral plasticity. Combined with the extensive study of insect behavior under natural conditions and their experimental tractability, insect systems may be uniquely qualified to address some of the biggest unanswered questions in this field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca R Westwick
- Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, United States
| | - Clare C Rittschof
- Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, United States
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14
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Abstract
Many species from diverse and often distantly related animal groups (e.g. monkeys, crows, fish and bees) have a sense of number. This means that they can assess the number of items in a set - its 'numerosity'. The brains of these phylogenetically distant species are markedly diverse. This Review examines the fundamentally different types of brains and neural mechanisms that give rise to numerical competence across the animal tree of life. Neural correlates of the number sense so far exist only for specific vertebrate species: the richest data concerning explicit and abstract number representations have been collected from the cerebral cortex of mammals, most notably human and nonhuman primates, but also from the pallium of corvid songbirds, which evolved independently of the mammalian cortex. In contrast, the neural data relating to implicit and reflexive numerical representations in amphibians and fish is limited. The neural basis of a number sense has not been explored in any protostome so far. However, promising candidate regions in the brains of insects, spiders and cephalopods - all of which are known to have number skills - are identified in this Review. A comparative neuroscientific approach will be indispensable for identifying evolutionarily stable neuronal circuits and deciphering codes that give rise to a sense of number across phylogeny.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andreas Nieder
- Animal Physiology Unit, Institute of Neurobiology, University of Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 28, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
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15
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Nityananda V, Chittka L. Different effects of reward value and saliency during bumblebee visual search for multiple rewarding targets. Anim Cogn 2021; 24:803-814. [PMID: 33515306 PMCID: PMC8238720 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-021-01479-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2020] [Revised: 01/11/2021] [Accepted: 01/13/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Several animals, including bees, use visual search to distinguish targets of interest and ignore distractors. While bee flower choice is well studied, we know relatively little about how they choose between multiple rewarding flowers in complex floral environments. Two factors that could influence bee visual search for multiple flowers are the saliency (colour contrast against the background) and the reward value of flowers. We here investigated how these two different factors contribute to bee visual search. We trained bees to independently recognize two rewarding flower types that, in different experiments, differed in either saliency, reward value or both. We then measured their choices and attention to these flowers in the presence of distractors in a test without reinforcement. We found that bees preferred more salient or higher rewarding flowers and ignored distractors. When the high-reward flowers were less salient than the low-reward flowers, bees were nonetheless equally likely to choose high-reward flowers, for the reward and saliency values we used. Bees were also more likely to attend to these high-reward flowers, spending higher inspection times around them and exhibiting faster search times when choosing them. When flowers differed in reward, we also found an effect of the training order with low-reward targets being more likely to be chosen if they had been encountered during the more immediate training session prior to the test. Our results parallel recent findings from humans demonstrating that reward value can attract attention even when targets are less salient and irrelevant to the current task.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vivek Nityananda
- Biosciences Institute, Newcastle University, Henry Wellcome Building, Framlington Place, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE2 4HH, UK. .,School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, Mile End, London, E1 4NS, UK.
| | - Lars Chittka
- School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, Mile End, London, E1 4NS, UK
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16
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MaBouDi H, Marshall JAR, Barron AB. Honeybees solve a multi-comparison ranking task by probability matching. Proc Biol Sci 2020; 287:20201525. [PMID: 32873200 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.1525] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Honeybees forage on diverse flowers which vary in the amount and type of rewards they offer, and bees are challenged with maximizing the resources they gather for their colony. That bees are effective foragers is clear, but how bees solve this type of complex multi-choice task is unknown. Here, we set bees a five-comparison choice task in which five colours differed in their probability of offering reward and punishment. The colours were ranked such that high ranked colours were more likely to offer reward, and the ranking was unambiguous. Bees' choices in unrewarded tests matched their individual experiences of reward and punishment of each colour, indicating bees solved this test not by comparing or ranking colours but by basing their colour choices on their history of reinforcement for each colour. Computational modelling suggests a structure like the honeybee mushroom body with reinforcement-related plasticity at both input and output can be sufficient for this cognitive strategy. We discuss how probability matching enables effective choices to be made without a need to compare any stimuli directly, and the use and limitations of this simple cognitive strategy for foraging animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- HaDi MaBouDi
- Department of Computer Science, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
| | | | - Andrew B Barron
- Department of Computer Science, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.,Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, North Ryde, Sydney, Australia
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17
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MaBouDi H, Galpayage Dona HS, Gatto E, Loukola OJ, Buckley E, Onoufriou PD, Skorupski P, Chittka L. Bumblebees Use Sequential Scanning of Countable Items in Visual Patterns to Solve Numerosity Tasks. Integr Comp Biol 2020; 60:929-942. [PMID: 32369562 PMCID: PMC7750931 DOI: 10.1093/icb/icaa025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Most research in comparative cognition focuses on measuring if animals manage certain tasks; fewer studies explore how animals might solve them. We investigated bumblebees’ scanning strategies in a numerosity task, distinguishing patterns with two items from four and one from three, and subsequently transferring numerical information to novel numbers, shapes, and colors. Video analyses of flight paths indicate that bees do not determine the number of items by using a rapid assessment of number (as mammals do in “subitizing”); instead, they rely on sequential enumeration even when items are presented simultaneously and in small quantities. This process, equivalent to the motor tagging (“pointing”) found for large number tasks in some primates, results in longer scanning times for patterns containing larger numbers of items. Bees used a highly accurate working memory, remembering which items have already been scanned, resulting in fewer than 1% of re-inspections of items before making a decision. Our results indicate that the small brain of bees, with less parallel processing capacity than mammals, might constrain them to use sequential pattern evaluation even for low quantities.
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Affiliation(s)
- HaDi MaBouDi
- School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK
| | - H Samadi Galpayage Dona
- School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK
| | - Elia Gatto
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy
| | - Olli J Loukola
- School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK
| | - Emma Buckley
- School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK.,Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
| | - Panayiotis D Onoufriou
- School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK
| | - Peter Skorupski
- Institute of Medical and Biomedical Education, St George's, University of London, London SW17 0RE, UK
| | - Lars Chittka
- School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK.,Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin-Institute for Advanced Study, Wallotstrasse 19, 14193 Berlin, Germany
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18
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Smith DB, Arce AN, Ramos Rodrigues A, Bischoff PH, Burris D, Ahmed F, Gill RJ. Insecticide exposure during brood or early-adult development reduces brain growth and impairs adult learning in bumblebees. Proc Biol Sci 2020; 287:20192442. [PMID: 32126960 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2019.2442] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
For social bees, an understudied step in evaluating pesticide risk is how contaminated food entering colonies affects residing offspring development and maturation. For instance, neurotoxic insecticide compounds in food could affect central nervous system development predisposing individuals to become poorer task performers later-in-life. Studying bumblebee colonies provisioned with neonicotinoid spiked nectar substitute, we measured brain volume and learning behaviour of 3 or 12-day old adults that had experienced in-hive exposure during brood and/or early-stage adult development. Micro-computed tomography scanning and segmentation of multiple brain neuropils showed exposure during either of the developmental stages caused reduced mushroom body calycal growth relative to unexposed workers. Associated with this was a lower probability of responding to a sucrose reward and lower learning performance in an olfactory conditioning test. While calycal volume of control workers positively correlated with learning score, this relationship was absent for exposed workers indicating neuropil functional impairment. Comparison of 3- and 12-day adults exposed during brood development showed a similar degree of reduced calycal volume and impaired behaviour highlighting lasting and irrecoverable effects from exposure despite no adult exposure. Our findings help explain how the onset of pesticide exposure to whole colonies can lead to lag-effects on growth and resultant dysfunction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dylan B Smith
- Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park, Buckhurst Road, Ascot, Berkshire SL5 7PY, UK
| | - Andres N Arce
- Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park, Buckhurst Road, Ascot, Berkshire SL5 7PY, UK
| | - Ana Ramos Rodrigues
- Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park, Buckhurst Road, Ascot, Berkshire SL5 7PY, UK
| | - Philipp H Bischoff
- Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park, Buckhurst Road, Ascot, Berkshire SL5 7PY, UK
| | - Daisy Burris
- Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park, Buckhurst Road, Ascot, Berkshire SL5 7PY, UK
| | - Farah Ahmed
- Core Research Laboratories, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK
| | - Richard J Gill
- Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park, Buckhurst Road, Ascot, Berkshire SL5 7PY, UK
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19
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Yilmaz A, Grübel K, Spaethe J, Rössler W. Distributed plasticity in ant visual pathways following colour learning. Proc Biol Sci 2020; 286:20182813. [PMID: 30963920 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2018.2813] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Colour processing at early stages of visual pathways is a topic of intensive study both in vertebrate and invertebrate species. However, it is still unclear how colour learning and memory formation affects an insect brain in the peripheral processing stages and high-order integration centres, and whether associative colour experiences are reflected in plasticity of underlying neuronal circuits. To address this issue, we used Camponotus blandus ants as their proven colour learning and memory capabilities, precisely controllable age and experience, and already known central visual pathways offer unique access to analyse plasticity in neuronal circuits for colour vision in a miniature brain. The potential involvement of distinct neuropils-optic lobes (OLs), mushroom body (MB) input (collar) and output (vertical lobe), anterior optic tubercle (AOTU) and central complex (CX)-in associative colour experiences was assessed by quantification of volumetric and synaptic changes (MB collar) directly after colour conditioning and, 3 days later, after the establishment of long-term memory (LTM). To account for potential effects of non-associative light exposure, we compared neuronal changes in the brain of colour-naive foragers with those of foragers that had been exposed to light in a non-associative way. The results clearly show that the OLs, AOTU, and CX respond with plastic changes after colour learning and LTM formation. This suggests a complex neuronal network for colour learning and memory formation involving multiple brain levels. Such a colour-processing network probably represents an efficient design promoting fast and accurate behavioural decisions during orientation and navigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ayse Yilmaz
- Department of Behavioural Physiology and Sociobiology (Zoology II), Biozentrum, University of Würzburg , Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg , Germany
| | - Kornelia Grübel
- Department of Behavioural Physiology and Sociobiology (Zoology II), Biozentrum, University of Würzburg , Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg , Germany
| | - Johannes Spaethe
- Department of Behavioural Physiology and Sociobiology (Zoology II), Biozentrum, University of Würzburg , Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg , Germany
| | - Wolfgang Rössler
- Department of Behavioural Physiology and Sociobiology (Zoology II), Biozentrum, University of Würzburg , Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg , Germany
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20
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Cabirol A, Haase A. Automated quantification of synaptic boutons reveals their 3D distribution in the honey bee mushroom body. Sci Rep 2019; 9:19322. [PMID: 31852957 PMCID: PMC6920473 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-55974-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2019] [Accepted: 12/05/2019] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Synaptic boutons are highly plastic structures undergoing experience-dependent changes in their number, volume, and shape. Their plasticity has been intensively studied in the insect mushroom bodies by manually counting the number of boutons in small regions of interest and extrapolating this number to the volume of the mushroom body neuropil. Here we extend this analysis to the synaptic bouton distribution within a larger subregion of the mushroom body olfactory neuropil of honey bees (Apis mellifera). This required the development of an automated method combining two-photon imaging with advanced image post-processing and multiple threshold segmentation. The method was first validated in subregions of the mushroom body olfactory and visual neuropils. Further analyses in the olfactory neuropil suggested that previous studies overestimated the number of synaptic boutons. As a reason for that, we identified boundaries effects in the small volume samples. The application of the automated analysis to larger volumes of the mushroom body olfactory neuropil revealed a corrected average density of synaptic boutons and, for the first time, their 3D spatial distribution. This distribution exhibited a considerable heterogeneity. This additional information on the synaptic bouton distribution provides the basis for future studies on brain development, symmetry, and plasticity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amélie Cabirol
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy
| | - Albrecht Haase
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy. .,Department of Physics, University of Trento, Trento, Italy.
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21
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Kraft N, Spaethe J, Rössler W, Groh C. Neuronal Plasticity in the Mushroom-Body Calyx of Bumble Bee Workers During Early Adult Development. Dev Neurobiol 2019; 79:287-302. [PMID: 30963700 DOI: 10.1002/dneu.22678] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2018] [Revised: 03/01/2019] [Accepted: 03/25/2019] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
Division of labor among workers is a key feature of social insects and frequently characterized by an age-related transition between tasks, which is accompanied by considerable structural changes in higher brain centers. Bumble bees (Bombus terrestris), in contrast, exhibit a size-related rather than an age-related task allocation, and thus workers may already start foraging at two days of age. We ask how this early behavioral maturation and distinct size variation are represented at the neuronal level and focused our analysis on the mushroom bodies (MBs), brain centers associated with sensory integration, learning and memory. To test for structural neuronal changes related to age, light exposure, and body size, whole-mount brains of age-marked workers were dissected for synapsin immunolabeling. MB calyx volumes, densities, and absolute numbers of olfactory and visual projection neuron (PN) boutons were determined by confocal laser scanning microscopy and three-dimensional image analyses. Dark-reared bumble bee workers showed an early age-related volume increase in olfactory and visual calyx subcompartments together with a decrease in PN-bouton density during the first three days of adult life. A 12:12 h light-dark cycle did not affect structural organization of the MB calyces compared to dark-reared individuals. MB calyx volumes and bouton numbers positively correlated with body size, whereas bouton density was lower in larger workers. We conclude that, in comparison to the closely related honey bees, neuronal maturation in bumble bees is completed at a much earlier stage, suggesting a strong correlation between neuronal maturation time and lifestyle in both species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nadine Kraft
- Behavioral Physiology and Sociobiology (Zoology II), University of Würzburg, Biozentrum, Würzburg, 97074, Germany
| | - Johannes Spaethe
- Behavioral Physiology and Sociobiology (Zoology II), University of Würzburg, Biozentrum, Würzburg, 97074, Germany
| | - Wolfgang Rössler
- Behavioral Physiology and Sociobiology (Zoology II), University of Würzburg, Biozentrum, Würzburg, 97074, Germany
| | - Claudia Groh
- Behavioral Physiology and Sociobiology (Zoology II), University of Würzburg, Biozentrum, Würzburg, 97074, Germany
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22
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Brain evolution in social insects: advocating for the comparative approach. J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol 2019; 205:13-32. [DOI: 10.1007/s00359-019-01315-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2018] [Revised: 01/09/2019] [Accepted: 01/11/2019] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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23
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Garcia JE, Shrestha M, Dyer AG. Flower signal variability overwhelms receptor-noise and requires plastic color learning in bees. Behav Ecol 2018. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/ary127] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Jair E Garcia
- Bio-Inspired Digital Sensing (BIDS) Lab, School of Media and Communication, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Mani Shrestha
- Bio-Inspired Digital Sensing (BIDS) Lab, School of Media and Communication, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- APIS Lab, Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
| | - Adrian G Dyer
- Bio-Inspired Digital Sensing (BIDS) Lab, School of Media and Communication, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Department of Physiology, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3168, Australia
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24
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Guiraud M, Roper M, Chittka L. High-Speed Videography Reveals How Honeybees Can Turn a Spatial Concept Learning Task Into a Simple Discrimination Task by Stereotyped Flight Movements and Sequential Inspection of Pattern Elements. Front Psychol 2018; 9:1347. [PMID: 30123157 PMCID: PMC6086205 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01347] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2018] [Accepted: 07/13/2018] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Honey bees display remarkable visual learning abilities, providing insights regarding visual information processing in a miniature brain. It was discovered that bees can solve a task that is generally viewed as spatial concept learning in primates, specifically the concept of “above” and “below.” In these works, two pairs of visual stimuli were shown in the two arms of a Y-maze. Each arm displayed a “referent” shape (e.g., a cross, or a horizontal line) and a second geometric shape that appeared either above or below the referent. Bees learning the “concept of aboveness” had to choose the arm of the Y-maze in which a shape–any shape–occurred above the referent, while those learning the “concept of belowness” had to pick the arm in which there was an arbitrary item beneath the referent. Here, we explore the sequential decision-making process that allows bees to solve this task by analyzing their flight trajectories inside the Y-maze. Over 368 h of high-speed video footage of the bees' choice strategies were analyzed in detail. In our experiments, many bees failed the task, and, with the possible exception of a single forager, bees as a group failed to reach significance in picking the correct arm from the decision chamber of the maze. Of those bees that succeeded in choosing correctly, most required a close-up inspection of the targets. These bees typically employed a close-up scan of only the bottom part of the pattern before taking the decision of landing on a feeder. When rejecting incorrect feeders, they repeatedly scanned the pattern features, but were still, on average, faster at completing the task than the non-leaners. This shows that solving a concept learning task could actually be mediated by turning it into a more manageable discrimination task by some animals, although one individual in this study appeared to have gained the ability (by the end of the training) to solve the task in a manner predicted by concept learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marie Guiraud
- School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Mark Roper
- School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom.,Drone Development Lab, Ben Thorns Ltd, Colchester, United Kingdom
| | - Lars Chittka
- School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom.,Wissenschaftskolleg, Institute of Advanced Study, Berlin, Germany
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25
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Cabirol A, Cope AJ, Barron AB, Devaud JM. Relationship between brain plasticity, learning and foraging performance in honey bees. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0196749. [PMID: 29709023 PMCID: PMC5927457 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0196749] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2018] [Accepted: 04/18/2018] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Brain structure and learning capacities both vary with experience, but the mechanistic link between them is unclear. Here, we investigated whether experience-dependent variability in learning performance can be explained by neuroplasticity in foraging honey bees. The mushroom bodies (MBs) are a brain center necessary for ambiguous olfactory learning tasks such as reversal learning. Using radio frequency identification technology, we assessed the effects of natural variation in foraging activity, and the age when first foraging, on both performance in reversal learning and on synaptic connectivity in the MBs. We found that reversal learning performance improved at foraging onset and could decline with greater foraging experience. If bees started foraging before the normal age, as a result of a stress applied to the colony, the decline in learning performance with foraging experience was more severe. Analyses of brain structure in the same bees showed that the total number of synaptic boutons at the MB input decreased when bees started foraging, and then increased with greater foraging intensity. At foraging onset MB structure is therefore optimized for bees to update learned information, but optimization of MB connectivity deteriorates with foraging effort. In a computational model of the MBs sparser coding of information at the MB input improved reversal learning performance. We propose, therefore, a plausible mechanistic relationship between experience, neuroplasticity, and cognitive performance in a natural and ecological context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amélie Cabirol
- Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW, Australia
- Research Center on Animal Cognition, Center for Integrative Biology, Toulouse University, CNRS, UPS, Toulouse, France
- * E-mail: (AC); (ABB)
| | - Alex J. Cope
- Department of Computer Science, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom
| | - Andrew B. Barron
- Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW, Australia
- * E-mail: (AC); (ABB)
| | - Jean-Marc Devaud
- Research Center on Animal Cognition, Center for Integrative Biology, Toulouse University, CNRS, UPS, Toulouse, France
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