Abstract
Olfactory learning and associative flexibility are important cognitive traits in bee foraging, landmark (such as nest site) recognition, and general perceptual and behavioral ecology. Environmental variability, such as floral species diversity, impacts phenotypic and behavioral traits, yet its effect on cognitive traits remains uncertain. Here, I evaluated the olfactory learning and reversal learning performance of Bombus terrestris in semi-natural environments differing in their degree of floral species diversity using a free-moving proboscis extension response (FMPER) protocol. I addressed the effect of environmental variability and body size on bumble bee olfactory learning, associative flexibility, and colony phenotype. Bees displayed no difference in learning or reversal learning performance, or body size distributions produced as a result of floral environment diversity. Body size was not predictive of learning performance, but there was an indication that it predicted associative flexibility measured through reversal learning performance. Bees did demonstrate differences in thermoregulatory and hygroregulatory behavior between environments. My project is to-date the largest to look at bumble bee colonies in a semi-natural capacity, and the first ever to measure bee cognitive ability in a semi-natural context. My results have applications in cognitive and pollination ecology, as well as experimental protocol for natural, semi-natural, and artificial populations.