The Journal of Experimental Biology 215, 3981-3988
© 2012. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd
doi:10.1242/jeb.075499
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Honeybees consolidate navigation memory during sleep
Lisa Beyaert, Uwe Greggers and Randolf Menzel*
Institut für Biologie, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany
*Author for correspondence ([log in to unmask])
SUMMARY
Sleep is known to support memory consolidation in animals, including 
humans. Here we ask whether consolidation of novel
navigation memory in honeybees depends on sleep. Foragers were exposed 
to a forced navigation task in which they learned to
home more efficiently from an unexpected release site by acquiring 
navigational memory during the successful homing flight.
This task was quantified using harmonic radar tracking and applied to 
bees that were equipped with a radio frequency
identification device (RFID). The RFID was used to record their outbound 
and inbound flights and continuously monitor their
behavior inside the colony, including their rest during the day and 
sleep at night. Bees marked with the RFID behaved normally
inside and outside the hive. Bees slept longer during the night 
following forced navigation tasks, but foraging flights of different
lengths did not lead to different rest times during the day or total 
sleep time during the night. Sleep deprivation before the forced
navigation task did not alter learning and memory acquired during the 
task. However, sleep deprivation during the night after
forced navigation learning reduced the probability of returning 
successfully to the hive from the same release site. It is concluded
that consolidation of novel navigation memory is facilitated by night 
sleep in bees.

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