年輕的蜜蜂絕對是個“永動機”,，它們似乎總在沒日沒夜地運送幼蟲或是為老蜜蜂提供食物。
據(jù)美國《科學(xué)》雜志在線新聞報道,，它們確實很忙,，以致于科學(xué)家曾經(jīng)懷疑它們是否睡覺。然而答案是肯定的,，但并沒有老蜜蜂那般規(guī)律,。對老蜜蜂和年輕蜜蜂攝制的錄像顯示，老蜜蜂會在白天覓食,、夜晚休息,；而年輕蜜蜂也會在連續(xù)不斷的工作日中擠出一些打盹的時間?？傮w而言,，這兩類蜜蜂的休息時間大致相當(dāng)，因此小蜜蜂并不會因為錯過一夜好夢而遺憾。研究人員在8月1日出版的《實驗生物學(xué)雜志》（JEB）上報告了這一發(fā)現(xiàn),。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原始出處：
JEB,，211, 2408-2416 (2008)，Ada D. Eban-Rothschild and Guy Bloch
Differences in the sleep architecture of forager and young honeybees (Apis mellifera)
Ada D. Eban-Rothschild and Guy Bloch*
Department of Evolution, Systematics, and Ecology, The Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 91904, Israel
* Author for correspondence (e-mail: [email protected] )
Accepted 19 May 2008
Honeybee (Apis mellifera) foragers are among the first invertebrates for which sleep behavior has been described. Foragers (typically older than 21 days) have strong circadian rhythms; they are active during the day, and sleep during the night. We explored whether young bees (3 days of age), which are typically active around-the-clock with no circadian rhythms, also exhibit sleep behavior. We combined 24-hour video recordings, detailed behavioral observations, and analyses of response thresholds to a light pulse for individually housed bees in various arousal states. We characterized three sleep stages in foragers on the basis of differences in body posture, bout duration, antennae movements and response threshold. Young bees exhibited sleep behavior consisting of the same three stages as observed in foragers. Sleep was interrupted by brief awakenings, which were as frequent in young bees as in foragers. Beyond these similarities, we found differences in the sleep architecture of young bees and foragers. Young bees passed more frequently between the three sleep stages, and stayed longer in the lightest sleep stage than foragers. These differences in sleep architecture may represent developmental and/or environmentally induced variations in the neuronal network underlying sleep in honeybees. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first evidence for plasticity in sleep behavior in insects.
