Optimal search patterns in honeybee orientation flights are robust against emerging infectious diseases.

摘要: Levy flights are scale-free (fractal) search patterns found in a wide range of animals. They can be an advantageous strategy promoting high encounter rates with rare cues that may indicate prey items, mating partners or navigational landmarks. The robustness this behavioural to ubiquitous threats animal performance, such as pathogens, remains poorly understood. Using honeybees radar-tracked during their orientation novel landscape, we assess for the first time how two emerging infectious diseases (Nosema sp. and Varroa-associated Deformed wing virus (DWV)) affect bees’ performance strategy. Nosema infection, unlike DWV, affected spatial scale flights, causing significantly shorter more compact flights. However, stark contrast disease-dependent temporal fractals, find same prevalence optimal flight characteristics (μ ≈ 2) both healthy infected bees. We discuss ecological evolutionary implications these surprising insights, arguing emergent property fundamental neuronal sensory components decision-making process, making them robust against diverse physiological effects pathogen infection possibly other stressors.