Accepted theories of honey bee foraging state that foragers are active at only 1 time of day. It has been shown that a few foragers can be trained to forage at multiple times of day and at many locations. The purpose of the current study was to further investigate the phenomenon of foragers maintaining multiple time-memories.
It was found that in small and large sample populations, a minority of foragers could be trained to 2 or more times and places. Within the hive, the foragers that do not fly to the stations also tend to exhibit a persistent time-memory. Remaining experienced foragers cluster at the dance floor at the approach of a training time and remain dispersed throughout the hive at other times. Because foragers can only be recruited from the dance floor, these foragers that stay behind are also exhibiting a time-memory with respect to the proper training time.
","abstract_html":"<p>Accepted theories of honey bee foraging state that foragers are active at only 1 time of day. It has been shown that a few foragers can be trained to forage at multiple times of day and at many locations. The purpose of the current study was to further investigate the phenomenon of foragers maintaining multiple time-memories.</p> <p>It was found that in small and large sample populations, a minority of foragers could be trained to 2 or more times and places. Within the hive, the foragers that do not fly to the stations also tend to exhibit a persistent time-memory. Remaining experienced foragers cluster at the dance floor at the approach of a training time and remain dispersed throughout the hive at other times. Because foragers can only be recruited from the dance floor, these foragers that stay behind are also exhibiting a time-memory with respect to the proper training time.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Thompson, Kimberly Marie Norris"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"MS (Master of Science)","degree_level":"Thesis - restricted","degree_discipline":"Biology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2001,"date_issued":"2001-08-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2001-08-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:18:50Z","subjects":["memory","Honey bee","Time-keeping","learning","Biology","Life Sciences"],"languages":[],"rights":["Copyright by the authors."],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/38","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Thompson, Kimberly Marie Norris"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["1900-01-01T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2001-08-01T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Biology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis - restricted"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["MS (Master of Science)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["memory","Honey bee","Time-keeping","learning","Biology","Life Sciences"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright by the authors."]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://dc.etsu.edu/context/etd/article/1088/viewcontent/thompsonk0809.pdf","https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/38"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Accepted theories of honey bee foraging state that foragers are active at only 1 time of day. It has been shown that a few foragers can be trained to forage at multiple times of day and at many locations. The purpose of the current study was to further investigate the phenomenon of foragers maintaining multiple time-memories.
It was found that in small and large sample populations, a minority of foragers could be trained to 2 or more times and places. Within the hive, the foragers that do not fly to the stations also tend to exhibit a persistent time-memory. Remaining experienced foragers cluster at the dance floor at the approach of a training time and remain dispersed throughout the hive at other times. Because foragers can only be recruited from the dance floor, these foragers that stay behind are also exhibiting a time-memory with respect to the proper training time.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Complex Time-Keeping in Honey Bees: a Study of the Subset of Foragers Maintaining Multiple Time-Memories."]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Thompson, Kimberly Marie Norris"],"dc:date.available":["1900-01-01T08:00:00Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2001-08-01T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Accepted theories of honey bee foraging state that foragers are active at only 1 time of day. It has been shown that a few foragers can be trained to forage at multiple times of day and at many locations. The purpose of the current study was to further investigate the phenomenon of foragers maintaining multiple time-memories.
It was found that in small and large sample populations, a minority of foragers could be trained to 2 or more times and places. Within the hive, the foragers that do not fly to the stations also tend to exhibit a persistent time-memory. Remaining experienced foragers cluster at the dance floor at the approach of a training time and remain dispersed throughout the hive at other times. Because foragers can only be recruited from the dance floor, these foragers that stay behind are also exhibiting a time-memory with respect to the proper training time.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://dc.etsu.edu/context/etd/article/1088/viewcontent/thompsonk0809.pdf","https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/38"],"dc:rights":["Copyright by the authors."],"dc:subject":["memory","Honey bee","Time-keeping","learning","Biology","Life Sciences"],"dc:title":["Complex Time-Keeping in Honey Bees: a Study of the Subset of Foragers Maintaining Multiple Time-Memories."],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Biology"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis - restricted"],"thesis:degree_name":["MS (Master of Science)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:18:50Z"}