Dataset Information

Symbolic representation of numerosity by honeybees ( Apis mellifera): matching characters to small quantities.

ABSTRACT: The assignment of a symbolic representation to a specific numerosity is a fundamental requirement for humans solving complex mathematical calculations used in diverse applications such as algebra, accounting, physics and everyday commerce. Here we show that honeybees are able to learn to match a sign to a numerosity, or a numerosity to a sign, and subsequently transfer this knowledge to novel numerosity stimuli changed in colour properties, shape and configuration. While honeybees learned the associations between two quantities (two; three) and two signs (N-shape; inverted T-shape), they failed at reversing their specific task of sign-to-numerosity matching to numerosity-to-sign matching and vice versa (i.e. a honeybee that learned to match a sign to a number of elements was not able to invert this learning to match the numerosity of elements to a sign). Thus, while bees could learn the association between a symbol and numerosity, it was linked to the specific task and bees could not spontaneously extrapolate the association to a novel, reversed task. Our study therefore reveals that the basic requirement for numerical symbolic representation can be fulfilled by an insect brain, suggesting that the absence of its spontaneous emergence in animals is not due to cognitive limitation.

SUBMITTER: Howard SR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6571477 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Symbolic representation of numerosity by honeybees ( Apis mellifera): matching characters to small quantities.

Howard Scarlett R SR Avarguès-Weber Aurore A Garcia Jair E JE Greentree Andrew D AD Dyer Adrian G AG

Proceedings. Biological sciences 20190605 1904

The assignment of a symbolic representation to a specific numerosity is a fundamental requirement for humans solving complex mathematical calculations used in diverse applications such as algebra, accounting, physics and everyday commerce. Here we show that honeybees are able to learn to match a sign to a numerosity, or a numerosity to a sign, and subsequently transfer this knowledge to novel numerosity stimuli changed in colour properties, shape and configuration. While honeybees learned the as ...[more]

PMID: 31161903

Similar Datasets

Project description:BACKGROUND:Melissococcus plutonius is an entomopathogenic bacterium that causes European foulbrood (EFB), a honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) disease that necessitates quarantine in some countries. In Czechia, positive evidence of EFB was absent for almost 40 years, until an outbreak in the Krkonose Mountains National Park in 2015. This occurrence of EFB gave us the opportunity to study the epizootiology of EFB by focusing on the microbiome of honeybee workers, which act as vectors of honeybee diseases within and between colonies. METHODS:The study included worker bees collected from brood combs of colonies (i) with no signs of EFB (EFB0), (ii) without clinical symptoms but located at an apiary showing clinical signs of EFB (EFB1), and (iii) with clinical symptoms of EFB (EFB2). In total, 49 samples from 27 honeybee colonies were included in the dataset evaluated in this study. Each biological sample consisted of 10 surface-sterilized worker bees processed for DNA extraction. All subjects were analyzed using conventional PCR and by metabarcoding analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene V1-V3 region, as performed through Illumina MiSeq amplicon sequencing. RESULTS:The bees from EFB2 colonies with clinical symptoms exhibited a 75-fold-higher incidence of M. plutonius than those from EFB1 asymptomatic colonies. Melissococcus plutonius was identified in all EFB1 colonies as well as in some of the control colonies. The proportions of Fructobacillus fructosus, Lactobacillus kunkeei, Gilliamella apicola, Frischella perrara, and Bifidobacterium coryneforme were higher in EFB2 than in EFB1, whereas Lactobacillus mellis was significantly higher in EFB2 than in EFB0. Snodgrassella alvi and L. melliventris, L. helsingborgensis and, L. kullabergensis exhibited higher proportion in EFB1 than in EFB2 and EFB0. The occurrence of Bartonella apis and Commensalibacter intestini were higher in EFB0 than in EFB2 and EFB1. Enterococcus faecalis incidence was highest in EFB2. CONCLUSIONS:High-throughput Illumina sequencing permitted a semi-quantitative analysis of the presence of M. plutonius within the honeybee worker microbiome. The results of this study indicate that worker bees from EFB-diseased colonies are capable of transmitting M. plutonius due to the greatly increased incidence of the pathogen. The presence of M. plutonius sequences in control colonies supports the hypothesis that this pathogen exists in an enzootic state. The bacterial groups synergic to both the colonies with clinical signs of EFB and the EFB-asymptomatic colonies could be candidates for probiotics. This study confirms that E. faecalis is a secondary invader to M. plutonius; however, other putative secondary invaders were not identified in this study.

Dataset Information

Symbolic representation of numerosity by honeybees ( Apis mellifera): matching characters to small quantities.

Publications

Symbolic representation of numerosity by honeybees ( Apis mellifera): matching characters to small quantities.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets