Elucidation of place learning mechanisms in honeybees uding a flight simulator

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K07439
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Animal physiology/Animal behavior
• Research Institution: Kobe University
• Principal Investigator: Sakura Midori 神戸大学, 理学研究科, 准教授 (60421989)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 昆虫 / 偏光 / 経路積算

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We constructed a flight simulator for a tethered bee, in which the bee was stimulated with zenithal polarized light. When the e-vector orientation of the polarized light stimulus was slowly rotated, the bee showed clear polarotaxis. To confirm whether a bee orients to the e-vector direction experienced during the foraging flight, we trained the bees using a feeding tunnel and investigated the preferred e-vector orientations of the bees caught at the feeder. Under the natural skylight condition, the bees showed significantly higher preference to the e-vector orientation coincident with that seen from the tunnel. When a UV-transmitted sheet polarizer was put on the top of the tunnel, the bees showed significant preference to the e-vector indicated by the polarizer. Our results indicate that the honeybees refer e-vector information from the skylight during their foraging flight in real time and use it to decide their heading direction.

Free Research Field

神経行動学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

動物のナビゲーションは様々な刺激を統合する複雑な行動であり、その時々で最適なルートを選択する必要があるが、そのメカニズムについてはほとんど明らかとなっていない。本研究では、ミツバチがある程度以上の長距離を航行する際に経路積算によってショートカットルートを選択することが示され、効率的なナビゲーションを実現することが明らかとなった。今後、種々の視覚刺激に対する応答の変化をさらに解析することで、複雑なナビゲーションを実現する仕組みが明らかとなることが期待される。