研究人员在日前的美国《国家科学院院刊》网络版上报告说,昏昏欲睡的意蜂(Apis mellifera)也是毫无条理可言的。
每天早晨,蜜蜂便踏上了它们日常的觅食之旅,之后回到蜂巢再跳上一段摇摆舞(指蜜蜂互相传递蜜源地点信息时跳的舞)。蜜蜂的身体相对于太阳的角度表示了其同伴飞往可采蜜的花朵的方向,而蜜蜂舞蹈持续的时间则是在诉说这些花朵离它们有多远。与休息好的蜜蜂相比,缺乏睡眠的蜜蜂——在研究人员的扰动下整晚地熬夜——在传达花朵的方向时会出现更多的差错;这种情况至少要等到它们补上觉后才有改观。证明蜜蜂失眠是否对种群生存有害的试验正在进行当中,在结果出来之前,建议工蜂还是要蜷缩在蜂巢中,到晚上9点再来上一杯热花蜜。(生物谷Bioon.com)
生物谷推荐原文出处:
PNAS doi: 10.1073/pnas.1009439108
Sleep deprivation impairs precision of waggle dance signaling in honey bees
Barrett A. Kleina,1, Arno Kleinb, Margaret K. Wrayc, Ulrich G. Muellera, and Thomas D. Seeleyc
Abstract
Sleep is essential for basic survival, and insufficient sleep leads to a variety of dysfunctions. In humans, one of the most profound consequences of sleep deprivation is imprecise or irrational communication, demonstrated by degradation in signaling as well as in receiving information. Communication in nonhuman animals may suffer analogous degradation of precision, perhaps with especially damaging consequences for social animals. However, society-specific consequences of sleep loss have rarely been explored, and no function of sleep has been ascribed to a truly social (eusocial) organism in the context of its society. Here we show that sleep-deprived honey bees (Apis mellifera) exhibit reduced precision when signaling direction information to food sources in their waggle dances. The deterioration of the honey bee's ability to communicate is expected to reduce the foraging efficiency of nestmates. This study demonstrates the impact of sleep deprivation on signaling in a eusocial animal. If the deterioration of signals made by sleep-deprived honey bees and humans is generalizable, then imprecise communication may be one detrimental effect of sleep loss shared by social organisms.