The effects of caffeine on learning and locomotor behavior in the honey bee (Apis mellifera)

Caffeine affects learning and memory in several different species, including the honey bee, Apis mellifera. The purpose of this research was to (1) ask if caffeine could enhance the ability of honey bees to learn a task involving foraging in their natural environment and (2) test for effects of caffeine on motor activity. I tested bees using a new adaptation of a place learning feeding table paradigm in which forager bees treated topically on the abdomen with 100 mM caffeine were trained to distinguish two feeding targets containing either sucrose or water. After training, the sucrose was replaced with water, and the forager was tested in a ten minute extinction test to ask if she had developed a memory of the location of the sucrose during training. The results of this study do not allow me to make any definitive conclusions on the effects of caffeine on learning in this assay due to an unexpected vehicle effect. Young honey bees were treated orally with caffeine and tested in a simple walking assay to ask if caffeine affects locomotor behavior in bees. Low doses of caffeine increased locomotor behavior but high doses did not, as has been demonstrated in mammals.

Grantor dc:publisher

Wake Forest University

Year dc:date.issued

2009

Author dc:creator

• Malechuk, Alana

• honey bee

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/14901

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:wakespace.lib.wfu.edu:10339/14901