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Regulation of Form and Function in the Nervous System of Honey Bees
Author(s) -
Fahrbach Susan E
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.26.1_supplement.205.2
Subject(s) - mushroom bodies , neuropil , honey bee , biology , foraging , neuroscience , brood , eusociality , insect , sociality , zoology , ecology , anatomy , hymenoptera , central nervous system , biochemistry , drosophila melanogaster , gene
The honey bee, Apis mellifera , has long been a focus of researchers interested in pollination, behavioral ecology, and evolution of sociality. A distinct academic tradition rooted in the work of ethologist Karl von Frisch used the honey bee to explore learning, memory, and social communication. Humans have engaged in beekeeping for thousands of years. The separate perspectives of ecology, ethology, and apiculture provide a sturdy foundation for contemporary honey bee neurobiology. The first comprehensive study of the honey bee brain in English was published in 1896 by F.C. Kenyon. Studies in the early 1990s revealed that the brains of forager honey bees can be distinguished from those of nestmates working inside the hive by volume of neuropil associated with the protocerebral mushroom bodies. These neuropils are organized around the axons and dendrites of neurons called Kenyon cells. Subsequent studies of mushroom body plasticity documented that foraging experience drives growth of the mushroom body neuropil by promoting branching of Kenyon cell dendrites. Experience‐dependent changes in volume of mushroom body neuropils of adults have been documented in the brains of other insects, including but not limited to other social hymenopterans. The persisting challenge is to relate this striking example of structural plasticity in the adult brain to functional changes in sensory integration and behavior.