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The evolution of cognition can be understood in terms of a few major transitions—changes in the computational architecture of nervous systems that changed what cognitive capacities could be evolved by downstream lineages. We demonstrate how the idea of a major cognitive transition can be modeled in terms of where a system's effective computational architecture falls on the well‐studied hierarchy of formal automata (HFA). We then use recent work connecting artificial neural networks to the HFA, which provides a way to make the structure‐architecture link in natural systems. We conclude with reflections on the power and the challenges of traditional thinking when applied to neural architectures. This article is categorized under:Cognitive Biology > Evolutionary Roots of CognitionPsychology > ComparativePhilosophy > Foundations of Cognitive Science [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The thriving field of comparative cognition examines the behaviour of diverse animals in cognitive terms. Comparative cognition research has primarily focused on the abilities of animals — what tasks they can do — rather than on the limits of their cognition — tasks that exceed an animal's cognitive abilities. We propose that understanding and identifying cognitive limits is as important as demonstrating the capacities of animal minds. Here, we identify challenges that have deterred the study of cognitive limits related to epistemic, practical and publication problems. The epistemic problem is concerned with how we can confidently infer a cognitive limit from null or negative results. The practical problem is how can we be certain our research has identified a cognitive limit rather than failures in tasks due to methodological or experimental design issues. The publication problem outlines the publication bias toward positive and exciting results over negative or null results in animal cognition. We propose solutions to these three challenges and examples of how to conduct research to confidently identify and confirm cognitive limits in animals. We believe a refocus on the cognitive limits of animals is the next step in the field of comparative cognition. Knowing the limits to the intelligence of different animals will aid us in appreciating the diversity of animal intelligence, and will resolve outstanding questions of how cognition evolves. Howard and Barron discuss how we need to know the limits to animals' cognitive capacitities if we are to appreciate the diversity of animal cognition and understand processes of cognitive evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The comparative approach is a powerful way to explore the relationship between brain structure and cognitive function. Thus far, the field has been dominated by the assumption that a bigger brain somehow means better cognition. Correlations between differences in brain size or neuron number between species and differences in specific cognitive abilities exist, but these correlations are very noisy. Extreme differences exist between clades in the relationship between either brain size or neuron number and specific cognitive abilities. This means that correlations become weaker, not stronger, as the taxonomic diversity of sampled groups increases. Cognition is the outcome of neural networks. Here we propose that considering plausible neural network models will advance our understanding of the complex relationships between neuron number and different aspects of cognition. Computational modelling of networks suggests that adding pathways, or layers, or changing patterns of connectivity in a network can all have different specific consequences for cognition. Consequently, models of computational architecture can help us hypothesise how and why differences in neuron number might be related to differences in cognition. As methods in connectomics continue to improve and more structural information on animal brains becomes available, we are learning more about natural network structures in brains, and we can develop more biologically plausible models of cognitive architecture. Natural animal diversity then becomes a powerful resource to both test the assumptions of these models and explore hypotheses for how neural network structure and network size might delimit cognitive function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Biting and chewing insects, such as crickets, may not have regular meals. They have a foregut with a crop that permits food to be stored, and also for further processing of previously ingested food if they cannot find food. Does this short period of starvation cause any further changes in other parts of the digestive system? We found that the salivary glands of crickets decreased in size as a result of a decrease in the size of one type of salivary cell, the zymogen cell. Amines (serotonin and dopamine) that stimulate gland secretion appeared to be stored with those cells, rather than in the parietal cells that are involved in salivation. Upon feeding, the glands immediately increase in size and the amines are then found in the parietal cells. This work appears to show that feeding and starving can affect parts of the digestive system as shown in animals such as snakes that can go long periods without feeding. The salivary glands of insects may have several different control mechanisms that require further work. The salivary gland of the black field cricket, Teleogryllus commodus Walker changed size between being starved and fed. Crickets without access to food for 72 h showed a reduction in both wet and dry mass of the glands compared with the glands from continuously fed animals at 72 h. Glands returned to size following ingestion within 10 min. Salivary glands of starved crickets (72 h) were incubated in saline containing either serotonin (5-HT) or dopamine (DA). Glands increased to pre-starvation size after 1 h incubation in situ with either 10−4 moles L−1 5-HT or 10−4 moles L−1 DA, although lower concentrations (10−5 moles L−1) did not affect gland size. From immunohistochemistry, amines appeared to shift from zymogen cells during starvation to parietal cells following feeding. High-performance liquid chromatography showed that serotonin concentration is higher than dopamine in the salivary gland removed from starved and fed crickets, but the quantity of these compounds was not dependent upon feeding state; the amine quantities increased as gland size increased. Further work is necessary to determine what might be the stimulus for gland growth and if dopamine and serotonin play a role in the stimulation of salivary gland growth after a period of starvation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined how bees solve a visual discrimination task with stimuli commonly used in numerical cognition studies. Bees performed well on the task, but additional tests showed that they had learned continuous (non-numerical) cues. A network model using biologically plausible visual feature filtering and a simple associative rule was capable of learning the task using only continuous cues inherent in the training stimuli, with no numerical processing. This model was also able to reproduce behaviours that have been considered in other studies indicative of numerical cognition. Our results support the idea that a sense of magnitude may be more primitive and basic than a sense of number. Our findings highlight how problematic inadvertent continuous cues can be for studies of numerical cognition. This remains a deep issue within the field that requires increased vigilance and cleverness from the experimenter. We suggest ways of better assessing numerical cognition in non-speaking animals, including assessing the use of all alternative cues in one test, using cross-modal cues, analysing behavioural responses to detect underlying strategies, and finding the neural substrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Honey bee dance has been intensively studied as a communication system, and yet we still know very little about the neurobiological mechanisms supporting how dances are produced and interpreted. Here, we discuss how new information on the functions of the central complex (CX) of the insect brain might shed some light on possible neural mechanisms of dance behaviour. We summarise the features of dance communication across the species of the genus Apis. We then propose that neural mechanisms of orientation and spatial processing found to be supported by the CX may function in dance communication also, and that this mechanistic link could explain some specific features of the dance form. This is purely a hypothesis, but in proposing this hypothesis, and how it might be investigated, we hope to stimulate new mechanistic analyses of dance communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of human cognition involves two different types of reasoning that operate together. Type 1 reasoning systems are intuitive and fast, whereas Type 2 reasoning systems are reflective and slow. Why has our cognition evolved with these features? Both systems are coherent and in most ecological circumstances either alone is capable of coming up with the right answer most of the time. Neural tissue is costly, and thus far evolutionary models have struggled to identify a benefit of operating two systems of reasoning. To explore this issue we take a broad comparative perspective. We discuss how dual processes of cognition have enabled the emergence of selective attention in insects, transforming the learning capacities of these animals. Modern AIs using dual systems of learning are able to learn how their vast world works and how best to interact with it, allowing them to exceed human levels of performance in strategy games. We propose that the core benefits of dual processes of reasoning are to narrow down a problem space in order to focus cognitive resources most effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How, why, and when consciousness evolved remain hotly debated topics. Addressing these issues requires considering the distribution of consciousness across the animal phylogenetic tree. Here we propose that at least one invertebrate clade, the insects, has a capacity for the most basic aspect of consciousness: subjective experience. In vertebrates the capacity for subjective experience is supported by integrated structures in the midbrain that create a neural simulation of the state of the mobile animal in space. This integrated and egocentric representation of the world from the animal's perspective is sufficient for subjective experience. Structures in the insect brain perform analogous functions. Therefore, we argue the insect brain also supports a capacity for subjective experience. In both vertebrates and insects this form of behavioral control system evolved as an efficient solution to basic problems of sensory reafference and true navigation. The brain structures that support subjective experience in vertebrates and insects are very different from each other, but in both cases they are basal to each clade. Hence we propose the origins of subjective experience can be traced to the Cambrian. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Worker honey bees change roles as they age as part of a hormonally regulated process of behavioural development that ends with a specialised foraging phase. The rate of behavioural development is highly plastic and responsive to changes in colony condition such that forager losses, disease or nutritional stresses accelerate behavioural development and cause an early onset of foraging in workers. It is not clear to what degree the behavioural development of workers can be accelerated without there being a cost in terms of reduced foraging performance. Here, we compared the foraging performance of bees induced to accelerate their behavioural development by treatment with the juvenile hormone analogue methoprene with that of controls that developed at a normal rate. Methoprene treatment accelerated the onset of both flight and foraging behaviour in workers, but it also reduced foraging span, the total time spent foraging and the number of completed foraging trips. Methoprene treatment did not alter performance in a short-range navigation task, however. These data indicate a limitation to the physiological plasticity of bees, and a trade off between forager performance and the speed at which bees begin foraging. Chronic stressors will be expected to reduce the mean age of the foraging force, and therefore also reduce the efficiency of the foraging force. This interaction may explain why honey bee colonies react to sustained stressors with non-linear population decline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many animal groups genital structures appear to have evolved extremely rapidly, prompting enduring interest in why this is so. Throughout this literature there remains a bias towards studying male genitalia; here we examine the extent of that bias and its possible causes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human decision-making strategies are strongly influenced by an awareness of certainty or uncertainty (a form of metacognition) to increase the chances of making a right choice. Humans seek more information and defer choosing when they realize they have insufficient information to make an accurate decision, but whether animals are aware of uncertainty is currently highly contentious. To explore this issue, we examined how honey bees (Apis mellifera) responded to a visual discrimination task that varied in difficulty between trials. Free-flying bees were rewarded for a correct choice, punished for an incorrect choice, or could avoid choosing by exiting the trial (opting out). Bees opted out more often on difficult trials, and opting out improved their proportion of successful trials. Bees could also transfer the concept of opting out to a novel task. Our data show that bees selectively avoid difficult tasks they lack the information to solve. This finding has been considered as evidence that nonhuman animals can assess the certainty of a predicted outcome, and bees' performance was comparable to that of primates in a similar paradigm. We discuss whether these behavioral results prove bees react to uncertainty or whether associative mechanisms can explain such findings. To better frame metacognition as an issue for neurobiological investigation, we propose a neurobiological hypothesis of uncertainty monitoring based on the known circuitry of the honey bee brain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While drug addiction is a uniquely human problem, most research examining the biological mechanisms of the transition from substance use to addiction is conducted with vertebrate animal models. Many other fields of neuroscience have greatly benefitted from contributions from simple and manipulable invertebrate model systems. However, the potential of invertebrate research has yet to be fully capitalised on in the field of addiction neuroscience. This may be because of the complexity of addiction and the clinical imperative of addiction research. We argue that the homocentric diagnostic criteria of addiction are no more a hindrance to the use of invertebrate models than they are to vertebrate models. We highlight the strengths of the diversity of different invertebrate model systems in terms of neuroanatomy and molecular machinery, and stress that working with a range of different models will aid in understanding addiction and not be a disadvantage. Finally, we discuss the specific advantages of utilising invertebrate animals for addiction research and highlight key areas in which invertebrates are suited for making unique and meaningful contributions to this field. © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] We present a simulation model of honey bee colony development. [•] The model effectively simulates patterns of colony population dynamics across several years. [•] The model helps to define situations likely to cause colony failure. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Diverse invertebrate species have been used for studies of learning and comparative cognition. Although we have gained invaluable information from this, in this study we argue that our approach to comparative learning research is rather deficient. Generally invertebrate learning research has focused mainly on arthropods, and most of that within the Hymenoptera and Diptera. Any true comparative analysis of the distribution of comparative cognitive abilities across phyla is hampered by this bias, and more fundamentally by a reporting bias toward positive results. To understand the limits of learning and cognition for a species, knowing what animals cannot do is at least as important as reporting what they can. Finally, much more effort needs to be focused on the neurobiological analysis of different types of learning to truly understand the differences and similarities of learning types. In this review, we first give a brief overview of the various forms of learning in invertebrates. We also suggest areas where further study is needed for a more comparative understanding of learning. Finally, using what is known of learning in honeybees and the well-studied honeybee brain, we present a model of how various complex forms of learning may be accounted for with the same neural circuitry required for so-called simple learning types. At the neurobiological level, different learning phenomena are unlikely to be independent, and without considering this it is very difficult to correctly interpret the phylogenetic distribution of learning and cognitive abilities. WIREs Cogn Sci 2013, 4:561-582. doi: 10.1002/wcs.1248 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The honey bee has a well-organized system of division of labour among workers. Workers typically progress through a series of discrete behavioural castes as they age, and this has become an important case study for exploring how dynamic changes in gene expression can influence behaviour. Here we applied both digital gene expression analysis and methyl DNA immunoprecipitation analysis to nurse, forager and reverted nurse bees (nurses that have returned to the nursing state after a period spent foraging) from the same colony in order to compare the outcomes of these different forms of genomic analysis. A total of 874 and 710 significantly differentially expressed genes were identified in forager/nurse and reverted nurse/forager comparisons respectively. Of these, 229 genes exhibited reversed directions of gene expression differences between the forager/nurse and reverted nurse/forager comparisons. Using methyl-DNA immunoprecipitation combined with high-throughput sequencing (MeDIP-seq) we identified 366 and 442 significantly differentially methylated genes in forager/nurse and reverted nurse/forager comparisons respectively. Of these, 165 genes were identified as differentially methylated in both comparisons. However, very few genes were identified as both differentially expressed and differentially methylated in our comparisons of nurses and foragers. These findings confirm that changes in both gene expression and DNA methylation are involved in the nurse and forager behavioural castes, but the different analytical methods reveal quite distinct sets of candidate genes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author offers a response to a commentary on his article "Prosociality and a Sociosexual Hypothesis for the Evolution of Same-Sex Attraction in Humans" published as a "Perspective in Frontiers in Psychology." Topics include the proposal in the article about same-sex sexual attraction, how their theory relates to earlier sociosexual theories of homosexuality, and defense of endocrine and related sexual inversion theories of human homosexuality.

Honey bees (Apis mellifera) are increasingly in demand as pollinators for various key agricultural food crops, but globally honey bee populations are in decline, and honey bee colony failure rates have increased. This scenario highlights a need to understand the conditions in which colonies flourish and in which colonies fail. To aid this investigation we present a compartment model of bee population dynamics to explore how food availability and bee death rates interact to determine colony growth and development. Our model uses simple differential equations to represent the transitions of eggs laid by the queen to brood, then hive bees and finally forager bees, and the process of social inhibition that regulates the rate at which hive bees begin to forage. We assume that food availability can influence both the number of brood successfully reared to adulthood and the rate at which bees transition from hive duties to foraging. The model predicts complex interactions between food availability and forager death rates in shaping colony fate. Low death rates and high food availability results in stable bee populations at equilibrium (with population size strongly determined by forager death rate) but consistently increasing food reserves. At higher death rates food stores in a colony settle at a finite equilibrium reflecting the balance of food collection and food use. When forager death rates exceed a critical threshold the colony fails but residual food remains. Our model presents a simple mathematical framework for exploring the interactions of food and forager mortality on colony fate, and provides the mathematical basis for more involved simulation models of hive performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reward seeking is a major motivator and organizer of behavior, and animals readily learn to modify their behavior to more easily obtain reward, or to respond to stimuli that are predictive of reward. Here, we compare what is known of reward processing mechanisms in insects with the well-studied vertebrate reward systems. In insects almost all of what is known of reward processing is derived from studies of reward learning. This is localized to the mushroom bodies and antennal lobes and organized by a network of hierarchically arranged modulatory circuits, especially those involving octopamine and dopamine. Neurogenetic studies with Drosophila have identified distinct circuit elements for reward learning, 'wanting,' and possibly 'liking' in Drosophila, suggesting a modular structure to the insect reward processing system, which broadly parallels that of the mammals in terms of functional organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines how sexuality and variations in sexual behavior are addressed in current biological teaching in relation to recent research findings. In an effort to provide a more contemporary and inclusive education for biology students, the article highlights findings in the biology of sex and suggests how they might be incorporated in undergraduate teaching. Also outlined are recommendations to develop a biology curriculum that reflects current understanding of biological sex.

The role of cocaine as an addictive drug of abuse in human society is hard to reconcile with its ecological role as a natural insecticide and plant-protective compound, preventing herbivory of coca plants (Erythroxylum spp.). This paradox is often explained by proposing a fundamental difference in mammalian and invertebrate responses to cocaine, but here we show effects of cocaine on honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) that parallel human responses. Forager honey bees perform symbolic dances to advertise the location and value of floral resources to their nest mates. Treatment with a low dose of cocaine increased the likelihood and rate of bees dancing after foraging but did not otherwise increase locomotor activity. This is consistent with cocaine causing forager bees to overestimate the value of the floral resources they collected. Further, cessation of chronic cocaine treatment caused a withdrawal-like response. These similarities likely occur because in both insects and mammals the biogenic amine neuromodulator systems disrupted by cocaine perform similar roles as modulators of reward and motor systems. Given these analogous responses to cocaine in insects and mammals, we propose an alternative solution to the paradox of cocaine reinforcement. Ecologically, cocaine is an effective plant defence compound via disruption of herbivore motor control but, because the neurochemical systems targeted by cocaine also modulate reward processing, the reinforcing properties of cocaine occur as a `side effect'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is extremely difficult to trace the causal pathway relating gene products or molecular pathways to the expression of behavior. This is especially true for social behavior, which being dependent on interactions and communication between individuals is even further removed from molecular-level events. In this review, we discuss how behavioral models can aid molecular analyses of social behavior. Various models of behavior exist, each of which suggest strategies to dissect complex behavior into simpler behavioral ‘modules.’ The resulting modules are easier to relate to neural processes and thus suggest hypotheses for neural and molecular function. Here we discuss how three different models of behavior have facilitated understanding the molecular bases of aspects of social behavior. We discuss the response threshold model and two different approaches to modeling motivation, the state space model and models of reinforcement and reward processing. The examples we have chosen illustrate how models can generate testable hypotheses for neural and molecular function and also how molecular analyses probe the validity of a model of behavior. We do not champion one model over another; rather, our examples illustrate how modeling and molecular analyses can be synergistic in exploring the molecular bases of social behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Entomologists have used a range of techniques to treat insects with neuroactive compounds, but it is not always clear whether different treatment methods are equally effective in delivering a compound to a target organ. Here, we used five different techniques to treat honeybees with 3H-octopamine (3H-OA), and analysed the distribution of the 3H radiolabelled compound within different tissues and how it changed over time. All treatment methods, including injection of the median ocellus, resulted in 3H-OA detection in all parts of the honeybee. Injection through the median ocellus was the most effective method for delivering 3H-OA to the brain. Topical application of 3H-OA dissolved in dimethylformamide (dMF) to the thorax was as effective as thoracic injections of 3H-OA in delivering 3H-OA to the brain, but topical applications to the abdomen were less so. Most of the 3H-OA applied topically remained associated with the cuticle and the tissues of the body segment to which it had been applied. For all treatment methods, 3H-OA was rapidly lost from the brain and head capsule, and accumulated in the abdomen. Our findings demonstrate the value of thoracic topical treatment with compounds dissolved in dMF as an effective non-invasive method for short-term, systemic pharmacological treatments. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Honey bees communicate the location and desirability of valuable forage sites to their nestmates through an elaborate, symbolic "dance language." The dance language is a uniquely complex communication system in invertebrates, and the neural mechanisms that generate dances are largely unknown. Here we show that treatments with controlled doses of the biogenic amine neuromodulator octopamine selectively increased the reporting of resource value in dances by forager bees. Oral and topical octopamine treatments modulated aspects of dances related to re- source profitability in a dose-dependent manner. Dances for pollen and sucrose responded similarly to octopamine treatment, and these effects were eliminated by treatment with the octopamine antagonist mianserin. We propose that octopamine modulates the representation of floral rewards in dances by changing the processing of reward in the honey bee brain. Octopamine is known to modulate appetitive behavior in a range of solitary insects; the role of octopamine in dance provides an example of how neural substrates can be adapted for new behavioral innovations in the process of social evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Octopamine treatment has previously been shown to increase honey bee foraging behaviour. We determined the effects of octopamine on other tasks to learn how octopamine affects division of labour in honey bee colonies. Octopamine treatment did not increase the rate of corpse removal from the hive, suggesting that elevated brain levels of octopamine do not act to increase the performance of all flight-related tasks. Octopamine treatment also did not increase attendance in the queen’s retinue, suggesting that elevated brain levels of octopamine do not act to increase responsiveness to all olfactory stimuli. Consistent with these findings, octopamine treatment enhanced the foraging response to brood pheromone but not the cell capping response, a component of brood care. These results demonstrate a relatively specific form of neuromodulation by octopamine in the regulation of division of labour in honey bee colonies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficient division of labor is one of the main reasons for the success of the social insects. In honey bees the division of labor is principally achieved by workers changing tasks as they age. Typically, young adult bees perform a series of tasks within the colony before ultimately making the transition to foraging outside the hive for resources. This lifelong behavioral development is a well-characterized example of naturally occurring behavioral plasticity, but its neural bases are not well understood. Two techniques were used to assess the role of biogenic amines in the transition from in-hive work to foraging, which is the most dramatic and obvious transition in honey bee behavioral development. First, associations between amines and tasks were determined by measuring the levels of amines in dissected regions of individual bee brains using HPLC analysis. Second, colonies were orally treated with biogenic amines and effects on the onset of foraging were observed. Octopamine concentration in the antennal lobes of the bee brain was most reliably associated with task: high in foragers and low in nurses regardless of age. In contrast, octopamine in the mushroom bodies, a neighboring neuropil, was associated with age and not behavior, indicating independent modulation of octopamine in these two brain regions. Treating colonies with octopamine resulted in an earlier onset of foraging in young bees. In addition, octopamine levels were not elevated by non-foraging flight, but were already high on return from the first successful foraging trip and subsequently remained high, showing no further change with foraging experience. This observation suggests that octopamine becomes elevated in the antennal lobes in anticipation of foraging and is involved in the release and maintenance of the foraging state. Foraging itself, however, does not modulate octopamine levels. Behaviorally related changes in octopamine are modulated by juvenile hormone, which has also been implicated in the control of honey bee division of labor. Treatment with the juvenile hormone analog methoprene elevated octopamine and octopamine treatment ‘rescued’ the delay in behavioral development caused by experimentally depleting juvenile hormone in bees. Although the pathways linking juvenile hormone and octopamine are presently unknown, it is clear that octopamine acts ‘downstream’ of juvenile hormone to influence behavior and that juvenile hormone modulates brain octopamine levels. A working hypothesis is that octopamine acts as an activator of foraging by modulating responsiveness to foraging-related stimuli. This is supported by the finding that octopamine treatment increased the response of bees to brood pheromone, a stimulator of foraging activity. Establishing a role for octopamine in honey bee behavioral development is a first step in understanding the neural bases of this example of naturally occurring, socially mediated, behavioral plasticity. The next level of analysis will be to determine precisely where and how octopamine acts in the nervous system to coordinate this complex social behavior.Copyright © 2003 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Definitions of learning vary widely across disciplines, driven largely by different approaches used to assess its occurrence. These definitions can be better reconciled with each other if each is recognized as coherent with a common conceptualization of learning, while appreciating the practical utility of different learning definitions in different contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advancements in agricultural production have seen the rapid adoption of protected cropping systems globally. Such systems have been optimized for plant growth and efficiency, with little understanding of the potential impacts to key insect pollinators. Here, we investigate the effect of bird netting and polythene rain covers on the health and performance of honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) during the pollination of sweet cherry crops. Over two consecutive seasons, 12 full‐strength colonies were equipped with tagged bees and radio frequency identification (RFID) systems. The colonies were equally divided between open control, bird netted and polythene (semi‐permanent VOEN in 2019 and retractable Cravo in 2020) groups. Over 1300 individual bees were monitored for the duration of the commercial pollination period to determine behavioural parameters such as foraging commencement age, number and duration of trips and overall survival. Bees began foraging within the optimum age range (mean 15.7–24.1 days) under all covering types, with little indication of prolonged stress or increased mortality during the short season. Polythene covers (VOEN & Cravo) were found to significantly increase the total time needed for bees to orientate successfully. Once orientated, bees placed under covers conducted up to 155% more foraging trips, with a longer cumulative duration. Covering type was found to significantly impact the amount and type of pollen collected, with the most restrictive system (VOEN) yielding the highest proportion of cherry pollen. Overall, we found little evidence to suggest that the tested protective covers have a detrimental impact to honey bee foraging in cherry crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hybrid vegetable varieties have become essential for global agricultural production, offering key advantages for yield, quality and disease resistance. The production of hybrid seeds is however limited by pollination challenges, with these systems commonly associated with unattractive and low‐quality floral resources, isolated growing environments and frequent insecticide applications.Here, we utilise commercial carrot seed crops to investigate the impact of hybrid pollination on the behaviour of the honey bee (Apis mellifera).Six full‐strength bee colonies were equipped with solar powered radio frequency identification systems and over 900 tagged bees per season. These colonies were deployed to commercial hybrid seed crops over two consecutive seasons. The colonies were allocated to either an on‐crop or off‐crop group. Individual bees were autonomously monitored for the pollination period to assess key parameters such as survival, age at foraging and the number and duration of orientation and foraging trips.Hybrid carrots were found to have a significant impact on bee foraging behaviour. Bees situated on the carrot crop undertook less frequent yet longer foraging trips, resulting in less total time outside of the colony compared to off‐crop bees. However, bees placed in carrot fields survived to an older age, orientated successfully, became foragers later and collected more pollen by weight, despite only 2% originating from carrot. We hope that the improved behavioural understanding can be utilised to enhance both pollinator health and hybrid seed production globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines whether a change in adult responsiveness could be induced by exposing Drosophila melanogaster larvae to a conditioning stimulus using two behavioral assays. Absence of evidence for preimaginal conditioning from either assay; Demonstration of the trap assay that menthol contamination from the larval environment on the puparial surface could induce a change in adult behavior.

Prior to leaving home, insects acquire visual landmark information through a series of well-choreographed walks or flights of learning [ 1–4 ]. This information allows them to pinpoint goals both when in their vicinity [ 5–7 ] and from locations they have not previously visited [ 8–10 ]. It is presumed that animals returning home match memorized views to their current view for successful view-based navigation [ 11 ]. While view-based navigation strategies have been incorporated into several navigation models [ 8 , 12 , 13 ], we still know little about how this behavior is performed by the insect brain. Mushroom bodies are essential for visual learning and memory [ 14–16 ], and therefore we investigated their role in view-based navigation in a visually oriented ant, Myrmecia midas. We injected the local anesthetic procaine [ 15 , 17 , 18 ] into the mushroom body vertical lobes (VLs) to selectively inhibit neural activity in this region. We compared the behavior of VL-procaine-treated ants with three groups: untreated control, VL-saline, and off-target (antennal lobe) procaine. Experienced foragers were collected, treated, and released in their familiar environment where we documented their behavior. Animals with procaine-inactivated VLs had tortuous paths and were unable to find their nest, whereas ants from the untreated and off-target procaine groups were well directed and were the most successful at returning home. Untreated animals walked faster when their gaze was directed toward home, and this behavior was eliminated by anesthetizing the VL region. Our data provide neurobiological evidence that the mushroom body vertical lobes are necessary for retrieving visual memories for successful view-based navigation. • Anesthetization of mushroom body vertical lobes inhibits visual memory retrieval • Ants with functional mushroom bodies walk faster when looking toward the nest • Vertical lobes enable ants to successfully match memorized views to current views Kamhi et al. show that ants with anesthetized mushroom body vertical lobe region cannot retrieve familiar visual landmark memories to navigate home. This is the first direct evidence for the involvement of the mushroom bodies in view-based navigation in the ants' natural environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the instincts and epigenetics in the cellular and molecular mechanisms. Instincts which are viewed to be learned behavior and the way animals acquire the instincts for innate behavior is mentioned. The research on instinct that is evolved from learning is discussed. An overview on the plasticity model of evolution which states that plasticity can precede and facilitate evolutionary adaptation is presented.

Central place foraging pollinators tend to develop multi-destination routes (traplines) to exploit patchily distributed plant resources. While the formation of traplines by individual pollinators has been studied in detail, how populations of foragers use resources in a common area is an open question, difficult to address experimentally. We explored conditions for the emergence of resource partitioning among traplining bees using agent-based models built from experimental data of bumblebees foraging on artificial flowers. In the models, bees learn to develop routes as a consequence of feedback loops that change their probabilities of moving between flowers. While a positive reinforcement of movements leading to rewarding flowers is sufficient for the emergence of resource partitioning when flowers are evenly distributed, the addition of a negative reinforcement of movements leading to unrewarding flowers is necessary when flowers are patchily distributed. In environments with more complex spatial structures, the negative experiences of individual bees on flowers favour spatial segregation and efficient collective foraging. Our study fills a major gap in modelling pollinator behaviour and constitutes a unique tool to guide future experimental programs. Author summary: Pollinating animals, like bees, face the challenge of maximising their returns on plant resources while minimising their foraging costs. Observations show bees establish idiosyncratic foraging routes (traplines) to visit familiar plants using short paths. This is an effective strategy for collecting pollen and nectar that are dispersed and renewable resources. Intriguingly, different bees seem to establish non-overlapping traplines, which aids in partitioning resources. So far, however, how bees establish these foraging strategies is a mystery. It seems unfeasible for them to be able to negotiate with competing foragers. Here we present a simple computational model derived from empirical observations suggesting bees can develop efficient routes between flowers while minimizing spatial overlaps with competitors based only on their history of reinforcement in a floral array. In the model, bees learn to return to flowers where they found nectar and avoid flowers that were found empty. Numerical simulations of our model predict the emergence of resource partitioning between pairs of bees under various conditions. This suggests a simple strategy to promote efficient foraging among competing agents on a renewable resource that could apply to many different pollinating animals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The queen and worker castes of the honey bee are very distinct phenotypes that result from different epigenomically regulated developmental programs. In commercial queen rearing, it is common to produce queens by transplanting worker larvae to queen cells to be raised as queens. Here, we examined the consequences of this practice for queen ovary development and genome-wide methylation. Queens reared from transplanted older worker larvae weighed less and had fewer ovarioles than queens reared from transplanted eggs. Methylome analyses revealed a large number of genomic regions in comparisons of egg reared and larvae reared queens. The methylation differences became more pronounced as the age of the transplanted larva increased. Differentially methylated genes had functions in reproduction, longevity, immunity, and metabolic functions suggesting that the methylome of larval reared queens was compromised and more worker-like than the methylome of queens reared from eggs. These findings caution that queens reared from worker larvae are likely less fecund and less healthy than queens reared from transplanted eggs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses the concept of subjective experience in insects. The author highlights the evidences that support the claim of consciousness in insects and mentions that more complex animals are capable of more complex experiences and that insects are actually aware of the world and presents the claims of authors that argues the possibility of subjective experiences in insects. Furthermore the author also cited that claim is still yet to be answered by neuroscience.

Honeybees forage on diverse flowers which vary in the amount and type of rewards they offer, and bees are challenged with maximizing the resources they gather for their colony. That bees are effective foragers is clear, but how bees solve this type of complex multi-choice task is unknown. Here, we set bees a five-comparison choice task in which five colours differed in their probability of offering reward and punishment. The colours were ranked such that high ranked colours were more likely to offer reward, and the ranking was unambiguous. Bees' choices in unrewarded tests matched their individual experiences of reward and punishment of each colour, indicating bees solved this test not by comparing or ranking colours but by basing their colour choices on their history of reinforcement for each colour. Computational modelling suggests a structure like the honeybee mushroom body with reinforcement-related plasticity at both input and output can be sufficient for this cognitive strategy. We discuss how probability matching enables effective choices to be made without a need to compare any stimuli directly, and the use and limitations of this simple cognitive strategy for foraging animals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Honeybees forage on diverse flowers which vary in the amount and type of rewards they offer, and bees are challenged with maximizing the resources they gather for their colony. That bees are effective foragers is clear, but how bees solve this type of complex multi-choice task is unknown. Here, we set bees a five-comparison choice task in which five colours differed in their probability of offering reward and punishment. The colours were ranked such that high ranked colours were more likely to offer reward, and the ranking was unambiguous. Bees' choices in unrewarded tests matched their individual experiences of reward and punishment of each colour, indicating bees solved this test not by comparing or ranking colours but by basing their colour choices on their history of reinforcement for each colour. Computational modelling suggests a structure like the honeybee mushroom body with reinforcement-related plasticity at both input and output can be sufficient for this cognitive strategy. We discuss how probability matching enables effective choices to be made without a need to compare any stimuli directly, and the use and limitations of this simple cognitive strategy for foraging animals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In honey bees (Apis mellifera), methyl palmitate (MP), methyl oleate (MO), methyl linoleate (ML), and methyl linolenate (MLN) are important pheromone components of the capping pheromones triggering the capping behavior of worker bees. In this study, we compared the amounts of these four pheromone components in the larvae of workers and drones, prior to be capped, in the process of being capped and had been capped. The amounts of MP, MO, and MLN peaked at the capping larval stage, and ML was highest at capped larvae in worker larvae, whereas in drone larvae, the amounts of the four pheromone components were higher overall and increased with aging. Furthermore, we proposed de novo biosynthetic pathways for MP, MO, ML, and ML, from acetyl-CoA. Besides, stable isotope tracer 13C and deuterium were used to confirm that these capping pheromone components were de novo synthesized by larvae themselves rather than from their diets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors' discuss the media coverage on sexual behaviour in animals. They state that the terms used in most of the studies reporting sexual contact between pairs of males or females refer to human sexuality. They say that the interviews wherein scientists drew a connection between their research findings and human behaviour have driven more-inflammatory media articles. They note that the research on animal sexual behaviour should not be sensationalized to catch public attention.

Honey bee ecology demands they make both rapid and accurate assessments of which flowers are most likely to offer them nectar or pollen. To understand the mechanisms of honey bee decision-making, we examined their speed and accuracy of both flower acceptance and rejection decisions. We used a controlled flight arena that varied both the likelihood of a stimulus offering reward and punishment and the quality of evidence for stimuli. We found that the sophistication of honey bee decision-making rivalled that reported for primates. Their decisions were sensitive to both the quality and reliability of evidence. Acceptance responses had higher accuracy than rejection responses and were more sensitive to changes in available evidence and reward likelihood. Fast acceptances were more likely to be correct than slower acceptances; a phenomenon also seen in primates and indicative that the evidence threshold for a decision changes dynamically with sampling time. To investigate the minimally sufficient circuitry required for these decision-making capacities, we developed a novel model of decision-making. Our model can be mapped to known pathways in the insect brain and is neurobiologically plausible. Our model proposes a system for robust autonomous decision-making with potential application in robotics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brain structure and learning capacities both vary with experience, but the mechanistic link between them is unclear. Here, we investigated whether experience-dependent variability in learning performance can be explained by neuroplasticity in foraging honey bees. The mushroom bodies (MBs) are a brain center necessary for ambiguous olfactory learning tasks such as reversal learning. Using radio frequency identification technology, we assessed the effects of natural variation in foraging activity, and the age when first foraging, on both performance in reversal learning and on synaptic connectivity in the MBs. We found that reversal learning performance improved at foraging onset and could decline with greater foraging experience. If bees started foraging before the normal age, as a result of a stress applied to the colony, the decline in learning performance with foraging experience was more severe. Analyses of brain structure in the same bees showed that the total number of synaptic boutons at the MB input decreased when bees started foraging, and then increased with greater foraging intensity. At foraging onset MB structure is therefore optimized for bees to update learned information, but optimization of MB connectivity deteriorates with foraging effort. In a computational model of the MBs sparser coding of information at the MB input improved reversal learning performance. We propose, therefore, a plausible mechanistic relationship between experience, neuroplasticity, and cognitive performance in a natural and ecological context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of the epigenome in phenotypic plasticity is unclear presently. Here we used a multiomics approach to explore the nature of the epigenome in developing honey bee (Apis mellifera) workers and queens. Our data clearly showed distinct queen and worker epigenomic landscapes during the developmental process. Differences in gene expression between workers and queens become more extensive and more layered during the process of development. Genes known to be important for caste differentiation were more likely to be regulated by multiple epigenomic systems than other differentially expressed genes. We confirmed the importance of two candidate genes for caste differentiation by using RNAi to manipulate the expression of two genes that differed in expression between workers and queens were regulated by multiple epigenomic systems. For both genes the RNAi manipulation resulted in a decrease in weight and fewer ovarioles of newly emerged queens compared to controls. Our data show that the distinct epigenomic landscapes of worker and queen bees differentiate during the course of larval development. [Display omitted] • Epigenomic landscapes of queens and workers diverge during development. • Epigenomic differences are more extensive and layered compared to gene expression. • Genes for caste differentiation are more multidimensionally regulated than others. • RNAi on 4CL decreases the weight and ovariole numbers of queens. • Different epigenomic landscapes developing alongside the diverging phenotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Are animals' preferences determined by absolute memories for options (e.g. reward sizes) or by their remembered ranking (better/worse)? The only studies examining this question suggest humans and starlings utilise memories for both absolute and relative information. We show that bumblebees' learned preferences are based only on memories of ordinal comparisons. A series of experiments showed that after learning to discriminate pairs of different flowers by sucrose concentration, bumblebees preferred flowers (in novel pairings) with (1) higher ranking over equal absolute reward, (2) higher ranking over higher absolute reward, and (3) identical qualitative ranking but different quantitative ranking equally. Bumblebees used absolute information in order to rank different flowers. However, additional experiments revealed that, even when ranking information was absent (i.e. bees learned one flower at a time), memories for absolute information were lost or could no longer be retrieved after at most 1 hr. Our results illuminate a divergent mechanism for bees (compared to starlings and humans) of learned preferences that may have arisen from different adaptations to their natural environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Pheromones are intraspecific chemical signals. They can have profound effects on the behaviour and/or physiology of the receiver, and it is still common to hear pheromones described as controlling of the behaviour of the receiver. The discussion of pheromonal control arose initially from a close association between hormones and pheromones in the comparative physiological literature, but the concept of a controlling pheromone is at odds with contemporary signal evolution theory, which predicts that a manipulative pheromonal signal negatively affecting the receiver's fitness should not be stable over evolutionary time. Here we discuss the meaning of pheromonal control, and the ecological circumstances by which it might be supported. We argue that in discussing pheromonal control it is important to differentiate between control applied to the effects of a pheromone on a receiver's physiology (proximate control), and control applied to the effects of a pheromone on a receiver's fitness (ultimate control). Critically, a pheromone signal affecting change in the receiver's behaviour or physiology need not necessarily manipulate the fitness of a receiver. In cases where pheromonal signalling does lead to a reduction in the fitness of the receiver, the signalling system would be stable if the pheromone were an honest signal of a social environment that disadvantages the receiver, and the physiological and behavioural changes observed in the receiver were an adaptive response to the new social circumstances communicated by the pheromone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers in the field of epigenomics are developing more nuanced understandings of biological complexity, and exploring the multiple pathways that lead to phenotypic expression. The concept of degeneracy—referring to the multiple pathways that a system recruits to achieve functional plasticity—is an important conceptual accompaniment to the growing body of knowledge in epigenomics. Distinct from degradation, redundancy and dilapidation; degeneracy refers to the plasticity of traits whose function overlaps in some environments, but diverges in others. While a redundant system is composed of repeated identical elements performing the same function, a degenerate system is composed of different elements performing similar or overlapping functions. Here, we describe the degenerate structure of gene regulatory systems from the basic genetic code to flexible epigenomic modifications, and discuss how these structural features have contributed to organism complexity, robustness, plasticity and evolvability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laboratory studies show detrimental effects of metallic pollutants on invertebrate behaviour and cognition, even at low levels. Here we report a field study on Western honey bees exposed to metal and metalloid pollution through dusts, food and water at a historic mining site. We analysed more than 1000 bees from five apiaries along a gradient of contamination within 11 km of a former gold mine in Southern France. Bees collected close to the mine exhibited olfactory learning performances lower by 36% and heads smaller by 4%. Three-dimensional scans of bee brains showed that the olfactory centres of insects sampled close to the mine were also 4% smaller, indicating neurodevelopmental issues. Our study raises serious concerns about the health of honey bee populations in areas polluted with potentially harmful elements, particularly with arsenic, and illustrates how standard cognitive tests can be used for risk assessment. [Display omitted] • Effects of metallic pollution on animal behaviour are poorly known. • We studied honey bees in an historic mining site contaminated with arsenic. • Live bees closer to the mine had reduced cognitive performance. • They also developed smaller heads with smaller brains. • Metallic pollution thus impairs bee behaviour and threatens pollination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasingly invertebrates are being used to investigate the molecular and cellular effects of drugs of abuse to explore basic mechanisms of addiction. However, in mammals the principle factors contributing to addiction are long-term adaptive responses to repeated drug use. Here we examined whether adaptive responses to cocaine are also seen in invertebrates using the honey bee model system. Repeated topical treatment with a low dose of cocaine rendered bees resistant to the deleterious motor effects of a higher cocaine dose, indicating the development of physiological tolerance to cocaine in bees. Cocaine inhibits biogenic amine reuptake transporters, but neither acute nor repeated cocaine treatments caused measurable changes in levels of biogenic amines measured in whole bee brains. Our data show clear short and long-term behavioural responses of bees to cocaine administration, but caution that, despite the small size of the bee brain, measures of biogenic amines conducted at the whole-brain level may not reveal neurochemical effects of the drug. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]