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Bumblebee olfactory learning affected by task allocation but not by a trypanosome parasite

Parasites can induce behavioural changes in their host organisms. Several parasite species are known to infect bumblebees, an important group of pollinators. Task allocation within bumblebee colonies can also cause differences in behaviour. Thus, task allocation may lead to context-dependent impacts...

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Autores principales: Martin, Callum D., Fountain, Michelle T., Brown, Mark J. F.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5895637/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29643344
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-24007-9
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author Martin, Callum D.
Fountain, Michelle T.
Brown, Mark J. F.
author_facet Martin, Callum D.
Fountain, Michelle T.
Brown, Mark J. F.
author_sort Martin, Callum D.
collection PubMed
description Parasites can induce behavioural changes in their host organisms. Several parasite species are known to infect bumblebees, an important group of pollinators. Task allocation within bumblebee colonies can also cause differences in behaviour. Thus, task allocation may lead to context-dependent impacts of parasites on host behaviour. This study uses Bombus terrestris and its gut trypanosome Crithidia bombi, to investigate the effects of parasitism, task allocation (foraging or nest-work) and their interactions, on olfactory learning. Prior to undergoing the olfactory learning task, bees were orally infected with a field-realistic dose of C. bombi, and observed to determine task allocation. Parasitism did not significantly affect olfactory learning, but task allocation did, with foragers being significantly more likely to learn than nest bees. There was no significant interaction between parasitism and task. These results suggest that C. bombi is unlikely to affect pollination services via changes in olfactory learning of its host if bees are under no environmental or nutritional stress. However, wild and commercial colonies are likely to face such stressors. Future studies in the field are needed to extrapolate our results to real world effects.
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spelling pubmed-58956372018-04-20 Bumblebee olfactory learning affected by task allocation but not by a trypanosome parasite Martin, Callum D. Fountain, Michelle T. Brown, Mark J. F. Sci Rep Article Parasites can induce behavioural changes in their host organisms. Several parasite species are known to infect bumblebees, an important group of pollinators. Task allocation within bumblebee colonies can also cause differences in behaviour. Thus, task allocation may lead to context-dependent impacts of parasites on host behaviour. This study uses Bombus terrestris and its gut trypanosome Crithidia bombi, to investigate the effects of parasitism, task allocation (foraging or nest-work) and their interactions, on olfactory learning. Prior to undergoing the olfactory learning task, bees were orally infected with a field-realistic dose of C. bombi, and observed to determine task allocation. Parasitism did not significantly affect olfactory learning, but task allocation did, with foragers being significantly more likely to learn than nest bees. There was no significant interaction between parasitism and task. These results suggest that C. bombi is unlikely to affect pollination services via changes in olfactory learning of its host if bees are under no environmental or nutritional stress. However, wild and commercial colonies are likely to face such stressors. Future studies in the field are needed to extrapolate our results to real world effects. Nature Publishing Group UK 2018-04-11 /pmc/articles/PMC5895637/ /pubmed/29643344 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-24007-9 Text en © The Author(s) 2018 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
spellingShingle Article
Martin, Callum D.
Fountain, Michelle T.
Brown, Mark J. F.
Bumblebee olfactory learning affected by task allocation but not by a trypanosome parasite
title Bumblebee olfactory learning affected by task allocation but not by a trypanosome parasite
title_full Bumblebee olfactory learning affected by task allocation but not by a trypanosome parasite
title_fullStr Bumblebee olfactory learning affected by task allocation but not by a trypanosome parasite
title_full_unstemmed Bumblebee olfactory learning affected by task allocation but not by a trypanosome parasite
title_short Bumblebee olfactory learning affected by task allocation but not by a trypanosome parasite
title_sort bumblebee olfactory learning affected by task allocation but not by a trypanosome parasite
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5895637/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29643344
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-24007-9
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