Effects of recent experience on foraging decisions by bumble bees

Area of Science:

• Behavioral Ecology
• Animal Cognition
• Pollinator Biology

Background:

• Foraging bees' environmental sampling and decision-making are constrained by memory.
• The spatial and temporal distribution of floral rewards influences bee behavior.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how recent foraging experience affects bumble bee flight distances.
• To determine the scale of memory bumble bees utilize in foraging decisions.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of existing experimental data on bumble bee foraging.
• Quantification of flight distances between successive flower visits.

Main Results:

• A single flower visit was sufficient to alter subsequent flight distance.
• Sequences of two or three visits had a cumulative effect on flight distance.
• Bumble bees integrate information from at least three flowers for decisions.

Conclusions:

• Bumble bee memory extends to at least three floral encounters.
• This memory capacity has implications for floral selection in natural habitats.