Pollinators use multiple cues whilst foraging in eluding direct cues from flowers and in direct cues from other pollinators. The use of indirect social cues is common in social in sects, such as honeybees and bumblebe...Pollinators use multiple cues whilst foraging in eluding direct cues from flowers and in direct cues from other pollinators. The use of indirect social cues is common in social in sects, such as honeybees and bumblebees, where a social environment facilitates the ability to use such cues. Bumblebees use cues to forage on flowers according to previous foraging experiences. Flowers are an essential food source for pollinators but also pose a high risk of parasite infection through the shared use of flowers leading to parasite spillover. Nevertheless, bumblebees have evolved behavioral defense mechanisms to limit parasite infection by avoiding contaminated flowers. Mechanisms underlying the avoidance of contaminated flowers by bumblebees are poorly understood. Bumblebees were recorded having the choice to forage on non-contaminated flowers and flowers contaminated by a trypan osome gut parasite, Crithidia bombi. The use of different treatments with presence or absence of con specifics on both con taminated and non-contami nated flowers allowed to investigate the role of social visual cues on their pathogen avoidance behavior. Bumblebees are expected to use social visual cues to avoid contaminated flowers. Our study reveals that the presence of a con specific on flowers either con taminated or not does not help bumblebee foragers avoiding contaminated flowers. Nevertheless, bumblebees whereas gaining experie nee tend to avoid their con specific when placed on contami nated flower and copy it whe n on the non-contami nated flower. Our experime nt suggests a detrime ntal impact of floral see nt on disease avoidanee behavior.展开更多
文摘Pollinators use multiple cues whilst foraging in eluding direct cues from flowers and in direct cues from other pollinators. The use of indirect social cues is common in social in sects, such as honeybees and bumblebees, where a social environment facilitates the ability to use such cues. Bumblebees use cues to forage on flowers according to previous foraging experiences. Flowers are an essential food source for pollinators but also pose a high risk of parasite infection through the shared use of flowers leading to parasite spillover. Nevertheless, bumblebees have evolved behavioral defense mechanisms to limit parasite infection by avoiding contaminated flowers. Mechanisms underlying the avoidance of contaminated flowers by bumblebees are poorly understood. Bumblebees were recorded having the choice to forage on non-contaminated flowers and flowers contaminated by a trypan osome gut parasite, Crithidia bombi. The use of different treatments with presence or absence of con specifics on both con taminated and non-contami nated flowers allowed to investigate the role of social visual cues on their pathogen avoidance behavior. Bumblebees are expected to use social visual cues to avoid contaminated flowers. Our study reveals that the presence of a con specific on flowers either con taminated or not does not help bumblebee foragers avoiding contaminated flowers. Nevertheless, bumblebees whereas gaining experie nee tend to avoid their con specific when placed on contami nated flower and copy it whe n on the non-contami nated flower. Our experime nt suggests a detrime ntal impact of floral see nt on disease avoidanee behavior.
