DISCRIMINANT CONDITIONING OF FORAGERS IN THE ASIAN HONEY-BEES APIS-CERANA AND A-DORSATA

1. Nectivore foraging environments are typically modelled as choices a mong non-fluctuating rewards, but in reality they often consist of int ermittent daily nectar and pollen sources. Intermittent rewards create two distinct foraging problems for colonial nectivores: re-recruitmen t (periodically returning to intermittent rewards) and re-allocation ( finding new rewards). 2. The role of scent in learning and remembering the locations of discontinuous nectar rewards was examined by testing re-recruitment efficiency of Apis cerana and A. dorsata to reward-cor related scents (odour discriminant self-conditioning). Experiments exa mined the responses of non-naive foragers to an odour correlated with prior reward, and to odours not correlated with prior rewards, by plac ing different scents into a colony and observing the number of bees re -recruited to a feeding station. 3. Re-recruitment of non-naive forage rs in both species was significantly greater in response to the condit ioning scent than to the experimental controls. However, species behav iour differed in one aspect; re-recruited A. cerana foragers landed on the feeding station when unscented reward was offered, whereas re-rec ruited A. dorsata foragers returned but would not land without conditi oning scent present in the reward.