A new device for monitoring individual activity rhythms of honey bees reveals critical effects of the social environment on behavior

Chronobiological studies of individual activity rhythms in social insects can be constrained by the artificial isolation of individuals from their social context. We present a new experimental set-up that simultaneously measures the temperature rhythm in a queen-less but brood raising mini colony an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Comparative Physiology 2016-08, Vol.202 (8), p.555-565
Main Authors: Beer, Katharina, Steffan-Dewenter, Ingolf, Härtel, Stephan, Helfrich-Förster, Charlotte
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accelerometry - instrumentation
Animal Physiology
Animals
Apis mellifera
Bees - physiology
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Circadian Rhythm
Equipment Design
Female
Housing, Animal
Life Sciences
Neurosciences
Original Paper
Photoperiod
Pilot Projects
Social Behavior
Social Environment
Social Isolation
Survival Analysis
Temperature
Walking
Zoology
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Summary:Chronobiological studies of individual activity rhythms in social insects can be constrained by the artificial isolation of individuals from their social context. We present a new experimental set-up that simultaneously measures the temperature rhythm in a queen-less but brood raising mini colony and the walking activity rhythms of singly kept honey bees that have indirect social contact with it. Our approach enables monitoring of individual bees in the social context of a mini colony under controlled laboratory conditions. In a pilot experiment, we show that social contact with the mini colony improves the survival of monitored young individuals and affects locomotor activity patterns of young and old bees. When exposed to conflicting Zeitgebers consisting of a light–dark (LD) cycle that is phase-delayed with respect to the mini colony rhythm, rhythms of young and old bees are socially synchronized with the mini colony rhythm, whereas isolated bees synchronize to the LD cycle. We conclude that the social environment is a stronger Zeitgeber than the LD cycle and that our new experimental set-up is well suited for studying the mechanisms of social entrainment in honey bees.
ISSN:0340-7594
1432-1351
DOI:10.1007/s00359-016-1103-2