Vector navigation in walking bumblebees
Patel, Rickesh N. LU
; Kempenaers, Julian
LU
and Heinze, Stanley
LU
(2022)
In Current Biology
32(13).
p.4-2883
- Abstract
Path integration is a computational strategy that allows an animal to maintain an internal estimate of its position relative to a point of origin. Many species use path integration to navigate back to specific locations, typically their homes, after lengthy and convoluted excursions. Hymenopteran insects are impressive path integrators, directly returning to their hives after hundreds of meters of outward travel. Recent neurobiological insights have established hypotheses for how path integration vectors could be encoded in the brains of bees, but clear ways to test these hypotheses in the laboratory are currently unavailable. Here, we report that the bumblebee, Bombus terrestris, uses path integration while walking over short distances... (More)
Path integration is a computational strategy that allows an animal to maintain an internal estimate of its position relative to a point of origin. Many species use path integration to navigate back to specific locations, typically their homes, after lengthy and convoluted excursions. Hymenopteran insects are impressive path integrators, directly returning to their hives after hundreds of meters of outward travel. Recent neurobiological insights have established hypotheses for how path integration vectors could be encoded in the brains of bees, but clear ways to test these hypotheses in the laboratory are currently unavailable. Here, we report that the bumblebee, Bombus terrestris, uses path integration while walking over short distances in an indoor arena. They estimate accurate vector distances after displacement and orient by artificial celestial cues. Walking bumblebees also exhibited systematic search patterns when home vectors failed to lead them accurately back to the nest, closely resembling searches performed by other species under natural conditions. We thus provide a robust experimental system to test navigation behavior in the laboratory that reflects most aspects of natural path integration. Importantly, we established this assay in an animal that is both readily available and resilient to invasive manipulations, as we demonstrate with the retention of the homing behavior post-anesthesia and surgery. In the future, our behavioral assay can therefore be combined with current electrophysiological techniques, opening a path toward directly probing the neural basis of the sophisticated vector navigation abilities of bees.
(Less)
- author
- Patel, Rickesh N.
LU
; Kempenaers, Julian
LU
and Heinze, Stanley
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2022-07-11
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- bee, Bombus terrestris, bumblebee, celestial polarization patterns, homing, navigation, orientation, path integration, search behavior, sun compass
- in
- Current Biology
- volume
- 32
- issue
- 13
- pages
- 4 - 2883
- publisher
- Elsevier
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:35640624
- scopus:85133633533
- ISSN
- 0960-9822
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.cub.2022.05.010
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s)
- id
- bb4c915c-7050-4fd2-ab58-2b44b97995ff
- date added to LUP
- 2022-09-02 09:37:50
- date last changed
- 2024-06-12 18:00:56
@article{bb4c915c-7050-4fd2-ab58-2b44b97995ff,
abstract = {{<p>Path integration is a computational strategy that allows an animal to maintain an internal estimate of its position relative to a point of origin. Many species use path integration to navigate back to specific locations, typically their homes, after lengthy and convoluted excursions. Hymenopteran insects are impressive path integrators, directly returning to their hives after hundreds of meters of outward travel. Recent neurobiological insights have established hypotheses for how path integration vectors could be encoded in the brains of bees, but clear ways to test these hypotheses in the laboratory are currently unavailable. Here, we report that the bumblebee, Bombus terrestris, uses path integration while walking over short distances in an indoor arena. They estimate accurate vector distances after displacement and orient by artificial celestial cues. Walking bumblebees also exhibited systematic search patterns when home vectors failed to lead them accurately back to the nest, closely resembling searches performed by other species under natural conditions. We thus provide a robust experimental system to test navigation behavior in the laboratory that reflects most aspects of natural path integration. Importantly, we established this assay in an animal that is both readily available and resilient to invasive manipulations, as we demonstrate with the retention of the homing behavior post-anesthesia and surgery. In the future, our behavioral assay can therefore be combined with current electrophysiological techniques, opening a path toward directly probing the neural basis of the sophisticated vector navigation abilities of bees.</p>}},
author = {{Patel, Rickesh N. and Kempenaers, Julian and Heinze, Stanley}},
issn = {{0960-9822}},
keywords = {{bee; Bombus terrestris; bumblebee; celestial polarization patterns; homing; navigation; orientation; path integration; search behavior; sun compass}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{07}},
number = {{13}},
pages = {{4--2883}},
publisher = {{Elsevier}},
series = {{Current Biology}},
title = {{Vector navigation in walking bumblebees}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.05.010}},
doi = {{10.1016/j.cub.2022.05.010}},
volume = {{32}},
year = {{2022}},
}