TY - JOUR

T1 - Does quantity matter to a stingless bee?

AU - Eckert, Johanna

AU - Bohn, Manuel

AU - Spaethe, Johannes

N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by an Ulrike Goldschmid-Grant for Research Work at the Tropical Field Station La Gamba, Costa Rica, awarded to Johanna Eckert by the society for the promotion of the La Gamba Field Station. We are grateful to Werner Huber (University of Vienna) for logistical support and the Tropical Research Station La Gamba, Costa Rica, for making available their laboratory facilities. We further thank Paulo Milet-Pinheiro for his help to identify T. fuscipennis , and Barbara Riegler for assisting with data collection. The Costarican Ministerio de Ambiente y Energía kindly granted research permits to carry out the study. Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s).

PY - 2022/6/1

Y1 - 2022/6/1

N2 - Quantitative information is omnipresent in the world and a wide range of species has been shown to use quantities to optimize their decisions. While most studies have focused on vertebrates, a growing body of research demonstrates that also insects such as honeybees possess basic quantitative abilities that might aid them in finding profitable flower patches. However, it remains unclear if for insects, quantity is a salient feature relative to other stimulus dimensions, or if it is only used as a “last resort” strategy in case other stimulus dimensions are inconclusive. Here, we tested the stingless bee Trigona fuscipennis, a species representative of a vastly understudied group of tropical pollinators, in a quantity discrimination task. In four experiments, we trained wild, free-flying bees on stimuli that depicted either one or four elements. Subsequently, bees were confronted with a choice between stimuli that matched the training stimulus either in terms of quantity or another stimulus dimension. We found that bees were able to discriminate between the two quantities, but performance differed depending on which quantity was rewarded. Furthermore, quantity was more salient than was shape. However, quantity did not measurably influence the bees' decisions when contrasted with color or surface area. Our results demonstrate that just as honeybees, small-brained stingless bees also possess basic quantitative abilities. Moreover, invertebrate pollinators seem to utilize quantity not only as "last resort" but as a salient stimulus dimension. Our study contributes to the growing body of knowledge on quantitative cognition in invertebrate species and adds to our understanding of the evolution of numerical cognition.

AB - Quantitative information is omnipresent in the world and a wide range of species has been shown to use quantities to optimize their decisions. While most studies have focused on vertebrates, a growing body of research demonstrates that also insects such as honeybees possess basic quantitative abilities that might aid them in finding profitable flower patches. However, it remains unclear if for insects, quantity is a salient feature relative to other stimulus dimensions, or if it is only used as a “last resort” strategy in case other stimulus dimensions are inconclusive. Here, we tested the stingless bee Trigona fuscipennis, a species representative of a vastly understudied group of tropical pollinators, in a quantity discrimination task. In four experiments, we trained wild, free-flying bees on stimuli that depicted either one or four elements. Subsequently, bees were confronted with a choice between stimuli that matched the training stimulus either in terms of quantity or another stimulus dimension. We found that bees were able to discriminate between the two quantities, but performance differed depending on which quantity was rewarded. Furthermore, quantity was more salient than was shape. However, quantity did not measurably influence the bees' decisions when contrasted with color or surface area. Our results demonstrate that just as honeybees, small-brained stingless bees also possess basic quantitative abilities. Moreover, invertebrate pollinators seem to utilize quantity not only as "last resort" but as a salient stimulus dimension. Our study contributes to the growing body of knowledge on quantitative cognition in invertebrate species and adds to our understanding of the evolution of numerical cognition.

KW - Associative learning

KW - Behavioral experiments

KW - Insects

KW - Numerical cognition

KW - Quantity discrimination

KW - Trigona fuscipennis

KW - Psychology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85119838422&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s10071-021-01581-6

DO - 10.1007/s10071-021-01581-6

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 34812987

AN - SCOPUS:85119838422

VL - 25

SP - 617

EP - 629

JO - Animal Cognition

JF - Animal Cognition

SN - 1435-9448

IS - 3

ER -