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SUMMARY:Learning flights in bumblebees - Dr Natalie Hempel de Ibarra\, Exe
 ter University
DTSTART:20161013T150000Z
DTEND:20161013T160000Z
UID:TALK68339@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Maria Schacker
DESCRIPTION:Female bees and wasps perform structurally elaborate learning 
 flights\, when they leave the nest or a food source for the first times. T
 hey memorise visual features of the surrounding environment for guidance o
 n their return. We study the learning flights of bumblebees\, their struct
 ure and changes under different experimental conditions\, to understand ho
 w insects learn. Because _B. terrestris_ nests in the ground and will coll
 ect nectar from low plants\, it is possible to compare the learning flight
 s acquiring information about the nest and a feeding site in circumstances
  in which the visual surroundings of each site are very similar. Differenc
 es between nest and feeder departure flights and learning may be related t
 o the greater need of bees to remember the precise position of their nest 
 hole than the location of conspicuous flowers. In contrast\, we find that 
 male bumblebees always fly away from the nest without looking back\, in ke
 eping with their indifference to their natal nest. They however perform le
 arning flights when departing an artificial feeder that resembled those of
  females in their complexity and fixations of flowers. These differences i
 n the occurrence of female and male learning flights seem to match the div
 erse needs of the two sexes to learn about ecologically relevant aspects o
 f their environment.
LOCATION:Hodgkin Huxley Seminar Room\, Physiology Building\, Downing Site
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