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Desclos le Peley V, Grateau S, Moreau-Vauzelle C, Raboteau D, Chevallereau C, Requier F, Aupinel P, Richard FJ. Experimental Ecotoxicology Procedures Interfere with Honey Bee Life History. ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY 2024; 43:1320-1331. [PMID: 38661473 DOI: 10.1002/etc.5872] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2024] [Revised: 01/30/2024] [Accepted: 03/19/2024] [Indexed: 04/26/2024]
Abstract
Apis mellifera was used as a model species for ecotoxicological testing. In the present study, we tested the effects of acetone (0.1% in feed), a solvent commonly used to dissolve pesticides, on bees exposed at different developmental stages (larval and/or adult). Moreover, we explored the potential effect of in vitro larval rearing, a commonly used technique for accurately monitoring worker exposure at the larval stage, by combining acetone exposure and treatment conditions (in vitro larval rearing vs. in vivo larval rearing). We then analyzed the life-history traits of the experimental bees using radio frequency identification technology over three sessions (May, June, and August) to assess the potential seasonal dependence of the solvent effects. Our results highlight the substantial influence of in vitro larval rearing on the life cycle of bees, with a 47.7% decrease in life span, a decrease of 0.9 days in the age at first exit, an increase of 57.3% in the loss rate at first exit, and a decrease of 40.6% in foraging tenure. We did not observe any effect of exposure to acetone at the larval stage on the capacities of bees reared in vitro. Conversely, acetone exposure at the adult stage reduced the bee life span by 21.8% to 60%, decreased the age at first exit by 1.12 to 4.34 days, and reduced the foraging tenure by 30% to 37.7%. Interestingly, we found a significant effect of season on acetone exposure, suggesting that interference with the life-history traits of honey bees is dependent on season. These findings suggest improved integration of long-term monitoring for assessing sublethal responses in bees following exposure to chemicals during both the larval and adult stages. Environ Toxicol Chem 2024;43:1320-1331. © 2024 The Authors. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of SETAC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Victor Desclos le Peley
- Laboratoire Écologie et Biologie des Interactions-UMR CNRS 7267, Laboratoire EBI-Équipe Écologie Évolution Symbiose, Université de Poitiers, Poitiers, France
| | - Stéphane Grateau
- UE 1255 Abeilles, Paysages, Interactions et Systèmes de culture,Station du Magneraud, Institut national de recherche pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement, Surgères, France
| | - Carole Moreau-Vauzelle
- UE 1255 Abeilles, Paysages, Interactions et Systèmes de culture,Station du Magneraud, Institut national de recherche pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement, Surgères, France
| | - Daniel Raboteau
- UE 1255 Abeilles, Paysages, Interactions et Systèmes de culture,Station du Magneraud, Institut national de recherche pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement, Surgères, France
| | - Colombe Chevallereau
- UE 1255 Abeilles, Paysages, Interactions et Systèmes de culture,Station du Magneraud, Institut national de recherche pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement, Surgères, France
| | - Fabrice Requier
- Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, IRD, UMR Évolution, Génomes, Comportement et Écologie, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Pierrick Aupinel
- UE 1255 Abeilles, Paysages, Interactions et Systèmes de culture,Station du Magneraud, Institut national de recherche pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement, Surgères, France
| | - Freddie-Jeanne Richard
- Laboratoire Écologie et Biologie des Interactions-UMR CNRS 7267, Laboratoire EBI-Équipe Écologie Évolution Symbiose, Université de Poitiers, Poitiers, France
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2
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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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3
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Smith ML, Davidson JD, Wild B, Dormagen DM, Landgraf T, Couzin ID. Behavioral variation across the days and lives of honey bees. iScience 2022; 25:104842. [PMID: 36039297 PMCID: PMC9418442 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104842] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2022] [Revised: 06/03/2022] [Accepted: 07/21/2022] [Indexed: 10/30/2022] Open
Abstract
In honey bee colonies, workers generally change tasks with age (from brood care, to nest work, to foraging). While these trends are well established, our understanding of how individuals distribute tasks during a day, and how individuals differ in their lifetime behavioral trajectories, is limited. Here, we use automated tracking to obtain long-term data on 4,100+ bees tracked continuously at 3 Hz, across an entire summer, and use behavioral metrics to compare behavior at different timescales. Considering single days, we describe how bees differ in space use, detection, and movement. Analyzing the behavior exhibited across their entire lives, we find consistent inter-individual differences in the movement characteristics of individuals. Bees also differ in how quickly they transition through behavioral space to ultimately become foragers, with fast-transitioning bees living the shortest lives. Our analysis framework provides a quantitative approach to describe individual behavioral variation within a colony from single days to entire lifetimes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael L Smith
- Department of Collective Behaviour, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, 78464 Konstanz, Germany.,Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, 78464 Konstanz, Germany.,Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, 78464 Konstanz, Germany.,Department of Biological Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn AL 36849, USA
| | - Jacob D Davidson
- Department of Collective Behaviour, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, 78464 Konstanz, Germany.,Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, 78464 Konstanz, Germany.,Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, 78464 Konstanz, Germany
| | - Benjamin Wild
- Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany
| | - David M Dormagen
- Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany
| | - Tim Landgraf
- Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany
| | - Iain D Couzin
- Department of Collective Behaviour, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, 78464 Konstanz, Germany.,Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, 78464 Konstanz, Germany.,Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, 78464 Konstanz, Germany
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4
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The short neuropeptide F regulates appetitive but not aversive responsiveness in a social insect. iScience 2022; 25:103619. [PMID: 35005557 PMCID: PMC8719019 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.103619] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2021] [Revised: 12/01/2021] [Accepted: 12/09/2021] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The neuropeptide F (NPF) and its short version (sNPF) mediate food- and stress-related responses in solitary insects. In the honeybee, a social insect where food collection and defensive responses are socially regulated, only sNPF has an identified receptor. Here we increased artificially sNPF levels in honeybee foragers and studied the consequences of this manipulation in various forms of appetitive and aversive responsiveness. Increasing sNPF in partially fed bees turned them into the equivalent of starved animals, enhancing both their food consumption and responsiveness to appetitive gustatory and olfactory stimuli. Neural activity in the olfactory circuits of fed animals was reduced and could be rescued by sNPF treatment to the level of starved bees. In contrast, sNPF had no effect on responsiveness to nociceptive stimuli. Our results thus identify sNPF as a key modulator of hunger and food-related responses in bees, which are at the core of their foraging activities.
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Naug D, Tait C. Slow-Fast Cognitive Phenotypes and Their Significance for Social Behavior: What Can We Learn From Honeybees? Front Ecol Evol 2021. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2021.766414] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Cognitive variation is proposed to be the fundamental underlying factor that drives behavioral variation, yet it is still to be fully integrated with the observed variation at other phenotypic levels that has recently been unified under the common pace-of-life framework. This cognitive and the resulting behavioral diversity is especially significant in the context of a social group, the performance of which is a collective outcome of this diversity. In this review, we argue about the utility of classifying cognitive traits along a slow-fast continuum in the larger context of the pace-of-life framework. Using Tinbergen’s explanatory framework for different levels of analyses and drawing from the large body of knowledge about honeybee behavior, we discuss the observed interindividual variation in cognitive traits and slow-fast cognitive phenotypes from an adaptive, evolutionary, mechanistic and developmental perspective. We discuss the challenges in this endeavor and suggest possible next steps in terms of methodological, statistical and theoretical approaches to move the field forward for an integrative understanding of how slow-fast cognitive differences, by influencing collective behavior, impact social evolution.
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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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7
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Bestea L, Réjaud A, Sandoz JC, Carcaud J, Giurfa M, de Brito Sanchez MG. Peripheral taste detection in honey bees: What do taste receptors respond to? Eur J Neurosci 2021; 54:4417-4444. [PMID: 33934411 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15265] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2021] [Revised: 04/21/2021] [Accepted: 04/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Understanding the neural principles governing taste perception in species that bear economic importance or serve as research models for other sensory modalities constitutes a strategic goal. Such is the case of the honey bee (Apis mellifera), which is environmentally and socioeconomically important, given its crucial role as pollinator agent in agricultural landscapes and which has served as a traditional model for visual and olfactory neurosciences and for research on communication, navigation, and learning and memory. Here we review the current knowledge on honey bee gustatory receptors to provide an integrative view of peripheral taste detection in this insect, highlighting specificities and commonalities with other insect species. We describe behavioral and electrophysiological responses to several tastant categories and relate these responses, whenever possible, to known molecular receptor mechanisms. Overall, we adopted an evolutionary and comparative perspective to understand the neural principles of honey bee taste and define key questions that should be answered in future gustatory research centered on this insect.
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Affiliation(s)
- Louise Bestea
- Research Centre on Animal Cognition, Center for Integrative Biology, CNRS (UMR 5169), University of Toulouse, Toulouse, France
| | - Alexandre Réjaud
- Laboratoire Evolution et Diversité Biologique, CNRS, IRD (UMR 5174), University of Toulouse, Toulouse, France
| | - Jean-Christophe Sandoz
- Evolution, Genomes, Behavior and Ecology, CNRS, IRD (UMR 9191, University Paris Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Julie Carcaud
- Evolution, Genomes, Behavior and Ecology, CNRS, IRD (UMR 9191, University Paris Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Martin Giurfa
- Research Centre on Animal Cognition, Center for Integrative Biology, CNRS (UMR 5169), University of Toulouse, Toulouse, France.,College of Animal Sciences (College of Bee Science), Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, China.,Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), Paris, France
| | - Maria Gabriela de Brito Sanchez
- Research Centre on Animal Cognition, Center for Integrative Biology, CNRS (UMR 5169), University of Toulouse, Toulouse, France
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8
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Mariette J, Carcaud J, Sandoz JC. The neuroethology of olfactory sex communication in the honeybee Apis mellifera L. Cell Tissue Res 2021; 383:177-194. [PMID: 33447877 DOI: 10.1007/s00441-020-03401-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2020] [Accepted: 12/14/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
The honeybee Apis mellifera L. is a crucial pollinator as well as a prominent scientific model organism, in particular for the neurobiological study of olfactory perception, learning, and memory. A wealth of information is indeed available about how the worker bee brain detects, processes, and learns about odorants. Comparatively, olfaction in males (the drones) and queens has received less attention, although they engage in a fascinating mating behavior that strongly relies on olfaction. Here, we present our current understanding of the molecules, cells, and circuits underlying bees' sexual communication. Mating in honeybees takes place at so-called drone congregation areas and places high in the air where thousands of drones gather and mate in dozens with virgin queens. One major queen-produced olfactory signal-9-ODA, the major component of the queen pheromone-has been known for decades to attract the drones. Since then, some of the neural pathways responsible for the processing of this pheromone have been unraveled. However, olfactory receptor expression as well as brain neuroanatomical data point to the existence of three additional major pathways in the drone brain, hinting at the existence of 4 major odorant cues involved in honeybee mating. We discuss current evidence about additional not only queen- but also drone-produced pheromonal signals possibly involved in bees' sexual behavior. We also examine data revealing recent evolutionary changes in drone's olfactory system in the Apis genus. Lastly, we present promising research avenues for progressing in our understanding of the neural basis of bees mating behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia Mariette
- Evolution, Genomes, Behaviour and Ecology, Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, IRD, 91198, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Julie Carcaud
- Evolution, Genomes, Behaviour and Ecology, Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, IRD, 91198, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Jean-Christophe Sandoz
- Evolution, Genomes, Behaviour and Ecology, Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, IRD, 91198, Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
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9
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Lai Y, Despouy E, Sandoz JC, Su S, de Brito Sanchez MG, Giurfa M. Degradation of an appetitive olfactory memory via devaluation of sugar reward is mediated by 5-HT signaling in the honey bee. Neurobiol Learn Mem 2020; 173:107278. [PMID: 32652234 DOI: 10.1016/j.nlm.2020.107278] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2020] [Revised: 06/29/2020] [Accepted: 07/06/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Conditioned taste aversion (CTA) learning induces the devaluation of a preferred food through its pairing with a stimulus inducing internal illness. In invertebrates, it is still unclear how this aversive learning impairs the memories of stimuli that had been associated with the appetitive food prior to its devaluation. Here we studied this phenomenon in the honey bee and characterized its neural underpinnings. We first trained bees to associate an odorant (conditioned stimulus, CS) with appetitive fructose solution (unconditioned stimulus, US) using a Pavlovian olfactory conditioning. We then subjected the bees that learned the association to a CTA training during which the antennal taste of fructose solution was contingent or not to the ingestion of quinine solution, which induces malaise a few hours after ingestion. Only the group experiencing contingent fructose stimulation and quinine-based malaise exhibited a decrease in responses to the fructose and a concomitant decrease in odor-specific retention in tests performed 23 h after the original odor conditioning. Furthermore, injection of dopamine- and serotonin-receptor antagonists after CTA learning revealed that this long-term decrease was mediated by serotonergic signaling as its blockade rescued both the responses to fructose and the odor-specific memory 23 h after conditioning. The impairment of a prior CS memory by subsequent CTA conditioning confirms that bees retrieve a devaluated US representation when presented with the CS. Our findings further highlight the importance of serotonergic signaling in aversive learning in the bee and uncover mechanisms underlying aversive memories induced by internal illness in invertebrates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuan Lai
- College of Animal Science (College of Bee Science), Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China; Research Centre on Animal Cognition, Center for Integrative Biology, CNRS, University of Toulouse, 118 route de Narbonne, F-31062 Toulouse, France
| | - Elodie Despouy
- Research Centre on Animal Cognition, Center for Integrative Biology, CNRS, University of Toulouse, 118 route de Narbonne, F-31062 Toulouse, France
| | - Jean-Christophe Sandoz
- Evolution, Genomes, Behavior and Ecology, Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, IRD, 1 avenue de la Terrasse, F-91198 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Songkun Su
- College of Animal Science (College of Bee Science), Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China.
| | - Maria Gabriela de Brito Sanchez
- Research Centre on Animal Cognition, Center for Integrative Biology, CNRS, University of Toulouse, 118 route de Narbonne, F-31062 Toulouse, France.
| | - Martin Giurfa
- College of Animal Science (College of Bee Science), Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China; Research Centre on Animal Cognition, Center for Integrative Biology, CNRS, University of Toulouse, 118 route de Narbonne, F-31062 Toulouse, France; Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), France.
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10
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Arican C, Bulk J, Deisig N, Nawrot MP. Cockroaches Show Individuality in Learning and Memory During Classical and Operant Conditioning. Front Physiol 2020; 10:1539. [PMID: 31969831 PMCID: PMC6960104 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2019.01539] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2019] [Accepted: 12/05/2019] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Animal personality and individuality are intensively researched in vertebrates and both concepts are increasingly applied to behavioral science in insects. However, only few studies have looked into individuality with respect to performance in learning and memory tasks. In vertebrates, individual learning capabilities vary considerably with respect to learning speed and learning rate. Likewise, honeybees express individual learning abilities in a wide range of classical conditioning protocols. Here, we study individuality in the learning and memory performance of cockroaches, both in classical and operant conditioning tasks. We implemented a novel classical (olfactory) conditioning paradigm where the conditioned response is established in the maxilla-labia response (MLR). Operant spatial learning was investigated in a forced two-choice task using a T-maze. Our results confirm individual learning abilities in classical conditioning of cockroaches that was reported for honeybees and vertebrates but contrast long-standing reports on stochastic learning behavior in fruit flies. In our experiments, most learners expressed a correct behavior after only a single learning trial showing a consistent high performance during training and test. We can further show that individual learning differences in insects are not limited to classical conditioning but equally appear in operant conditioning of the cockroach.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Nina Deisig
- Department of Computational Systems Neuroscience, Institute of Zoology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Martin Paul Nawrot
- Department of Computational Systems Neuroscience, Institute of Zoology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
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