動物取食時需要考慮多種因素,如食物質量、食物的處理時間、捕食風險、食物中碳氮平衡等。在複雜的自然環境下,動物的決策往往需要評估各種相反的標準,如高質量的食物往往吸引捕食者,意味著取食者必須權衡食物質量和捕食風險。蜜蜂在取食時需要面對多種矛盾的花的屬性(如獲取食物與取食時間、取食地出現的危險及花蜜中的有毒成分等),因此是探索動物在多種複雜因素下取食決策的優秀模型。
溫度和濃度是花蜜的兩個重要屬性,中國科學院西雙版納熱帶植物園化學生態學研究組譚墾博士等利用東方蜜蜂取食時對不同溫度和濃度的糖溶液的喜好研究蜜蜂在多種選擇下的決策。結果表明:在對花蜜單個屬性進行選擇時,蜜蜂偏好溫暖的糖溶液(濃度相同)和較高濃度的糖溶液(溫度相同);在對有多個屬性的花蜜選擇時,蜜蜂對相同濃度溫暖糖溶液的偏好隨溫度的降低而增加。
在決策過程中,唯一選項下蜜蜂選擇最為直接。而在對食物多個屬性進行選擇時,蜜蜂能夠對這些選項的不同屬性進行單獨權衡,並且會增加對各個選項權衡的時間和次數。環境對蜜蜂的選擇能夠產生影響,隨選項數目的增加,無論其屬性優劣,蜜蜂的決策都會受到影響,即蜜蜂會改變之前的選擇偏好。
相關研究成果以Preferences and tradeoffs in nectar temperature and nectar concentration in the Asian hive bee Apis cerana為題發表在Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology上。(生物谷Bioon.com)
生物谷推薦的英文摘要
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology doi:10.1007/s00265-013-1617-3
Preferences and tradeoffs in nectar temperature and nectar concentration in the Asian hive bee Apis cerana
Ken Tan, Tanya Latty, Zongwenu Hu, Zhengwei Wang, Shuang Yang, Weiweng Chen, Benjamin P. Oldroyd
Honey bee foragers need to asses and make trade-offs between a number of potentially conflicting floral attributes. Here, we investigate multi-attribute decision making in the eastern honey bee, Apis cerana, when foraging on food sources that varied in warmth and sucrose concentration. We show that foragers prefer warm (30 °C) sucrose solution over cool (10 °C) sucrose solution and concentrated (30 % w/w) sucrose solution over dilute (15 % w/w) sucrose solution. When we offered the preferred sucrose concentration (30 % w/w) at the less-preferred temperature (10 °C), and the less-preferred sucrose concentration (15 % w/w) at the preferred temperature (30 °C), foragers prioritized warmth by choosing the warmer, but lower concentration solution. When the temperature difference was less extreme, bees preferred more concentrated cooler syrup (30 % ww at 15 °C over 15 % 30 °C). However, the addition of a decoy item to the choice set had a significant effect on the bees' preferences. Our results highlight the critical importance of considering context effects when measuring the foraging preferences of animals.