[Pollinator] New report-Bumble bees can estimate time intervals

[Kimberly Winter]

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-08/cp-bbc081606.php

Public release date: 21-Aug-2006

Contact: Heidi Hardman
hhardman at cell.com
617-397-2879
Cell Press

Bumble bees can estimate time intervals

In a finding that broadens our understanding of time perception in the 
animal kingdom, researchers have discovered that an insect pollinator, the 
bumble bee, can estimate the duration of time intervals. Although many 
insects show daily and annual rhythms of behavior, the more sophisticated 
ability to estimate the duration of shorter time intervals had previously 
been known only in humans and other vertebrates.

The findings are reported by Michael Boisvert and David Sherry of the 
University of Western Ontario and appear in the August 22nd issue of the 
journal Current Biology, published by Cell Press.

Bees and other insects make a variety of decisions that appear to require 
the ability to estimate elapsed durations. Insect pollinators feed on floral 
nectar that depletes and renews with the passage of time, and insect 
communication and navigation may also require the ability to estimate the 
duration of time intervals.

In the new work, the researchers investigated bumble bees' ability to time 
the interval between successive nectar rewards. Using a specially designed 
chamber in which bumble bees extended their proboscis to obtain sucrose 
rewards, the researchers observed that bees adjusted the timing of proboscis 
extensions so that most were made near the end of the programmed interval 
between rewards. When nectar was delivered after either of two different 
intervals, bees could often time both intervals simultaneously. This 
research shows that the biological foundations of time perception may be 
found in animals with relatively simple neural systems.

The researchers include Michael J. Boisvert and David F. Sherry of the 
University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada. This research is 
part of a doctoral dissertation by M.J.B. and was supported by a grant from 
the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada to D.F.S.

Boisvert et al.: "Interval Timing by an Invertebrate, the Bumble Bee Bombus 
impatiens." Publishing in Current Biology 16, 1636–1640, August 22, 2006 DOI 
10.1016/j.cub.2006.06.064 www.current-biology.com

~Kim

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Kimberly Winter, Ph.D.
International Coordinator
North American Pollinator Protection Campaign
Internet: www.nappc.org, www.pollinator.org
Ph: (301) 219-7030