The goal of this project is to determine whether the biogenic amines octopamine and serotonin influence the rate at which honeybees mature from working in the hive to taking on the more complex duties of foraging for nectar and pollen. If biogenic amines do function in this way, studies will be undertaken to determine whether they interact with endocrine signals to effect this regulation. The research will involve measurements of biogenic amines in the brains of individual bees, treatments of biogenic amines and hormones, and detailed behavioral analyses. Biogenic amines are known to exert short-term modulatory effects on a variety of behaviors in animals and humans but it is not known whether they also regulate long-term, developmental transitions from one behavioral phase to another.
