Landmark knowledge overrides optic flow in honeybee waggle dance distance estimation

Abstract Honeybees encode in their waggle dances the vector (distance and direction) of an outbound flight to a food source or a new nest side. Optic flow has been identified as the major source of information in the distance estimation. Additional components of distance estimation were also identified, e.g. the sequence of experienced landmarks. Here we address the question of whether bees also use the landscape memory developed during exploratory orientation flights to estimate distance. We took advantage of the fact that flights in a narrow tunnel lead to further distance measures due to higher optic flow. We find that this effect is lost when bees had explored the area in which the tunnel is located and when they have somewhat restricted visual access to the surrounding environment through the mesh on top of the tunnel. These data are interpreted in the context of other findings about the structure of navigational memory in bees that develops during exploratory orientation flights. In particular, the data suggest that bees embed distance measures into a representation of navigational space that stores previously experienced landscape features. Summary statement The distance code in the honeybee waggle dance is embedded in the landscape memory that bees establish during their exploratory and their foraging flights.