Response to competing conspecific cues depends on social context in the honey bee

Link to article: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347223002440

For this project, I researched whether non-nursing-related social cues affect nursing behavior and if social context modulates these interactions. I presented nurse bees with a frame of young larvae to nurse. Some of these larvae were also given additional "begging pheromone" (e-Beta-ocimene) to make them seem extra hungry and needy to the nurses. I then challenged the nurses with a brief application of alarm pheromone (isopentyl acetate), a signal that is typically used by other task specialists such as guards and soldiers, or a control (mineral oil). We found that nurses from high-aggression colonies decreased nursing behavior when alarm pheromone was present, suggesting that they get "distracted" by this non-nursing-related social cue. But this response was specific to certain social contexts—nurses from low-aggression colonies did not change their behavior in the presence of alarm pheromone. Thus, the relationship between honey bee communication and behavioral specialization may be more nuanced than previously known.

Below: a) The observation hive used in this experiment. The hive was kept under red light conditions to minimize disturbance to the bees, as bees cannot see red light.

a)