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Honeybee navigation: following routes using polarized-light cues

Kraft, P. ; Evangelista, C. ; Dacke, Marie LU ; Labhart, T. and Srinivasan, M. V. (2011) In Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 366(1565). p.703-708
Abstract
While it is generally accepted that honeybees (Apis mellifera) are capable of using the pattern of polarized light in the sky to navigate to a food source, there is little or no direct behavioural evidence that they actually do so. We have examined whether bees can be trained to find their way through a maze composed of four interconnected tunnels, by using directional information provided by polarized light illumination from the ceilings of the tunnels. The results show that bees can learn this task, thus demonstrating directly, and for the first time, that bees are indeed capable of using the polarized-light information in the sky as a compass to steer their way to a food source.
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author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
honeybee, navigation, polarization vision, orientation
in
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
volume
366
issue
1565
pages
703 - 708
publisher
Royal Society Publishing
external identifiers
  • wos:000286721400013
  • scopus:79952346186
  • pmid:21282174
ISSN
1471-2970
DOI
10.1098/rstb.2010.0203
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
662aec86-ffa2-426a-8c96-e90ceca0e584 (old id 1925729)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 13:48:46
date last changed
2022-03-14 02:05:05
@article{662aec86-ffa2-426a-8c96-e90ceca0e584,
  abstract     = {{While it is generally accepted that honeybees (Apis mellifera) are capable of using the pattern of polarized light in the sky to navigate to a food source, there is little or no direct behavioural evidence that they actually do so. We have examined whether bees can be trained to find their way through a maze composed of four interconnected tunnels, by using directional information provided by polarized light illumination from the ceilings of the tunnels. The results show that bees can learn this task, thus demonstrating directly, and for the first time, that bees are indeed capable of using the polarized-light information in the sky as a compass to steer their way to a food source.}},
  author       = {{Kraft, P. and Evangelista, C. and Dacke, Marie and Labhart, T. and Srinivasan, M. V.}},
  issn         = {{1471-2970}},
  keywords     = {{honeybee; navigation; polarization vision; orientation}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1565}},
  pages        = {{703--708}},
  publisher    = {{Royal Society Publishing}},
  series       = {{Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences}},
  title        = {{Honeybee navigation: following routes using polarized-light cues}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2010.0203}},
  doi          = {{10.1098/rstb.2010.0203}},
  volume       = {{366}},
  year         = {{2011}},
}