Bumblebees have a great capacity to navigate despite their small brain size. This is borne out of new research conducted at Lund University in Sweden, among others. The research results can potentially benefit the development of navigation robots in crisis situations where GPS does not work, for example.
According to the study, bumblebees appear capable of navigating as well as vertebrates can, and in some respects their sense of direction is superior to that of humans. The study shows that bumblebees can store several spatial memories in their brain to be used when needed.
The bumblebees' navigation ability is based on their constant monitoring of direction and distance while flying. Using this information, the insects can store their navigation experiences in their long-term memory through spatial vectors created in their brain. This ability allows them to fly straight home after long and difficult-to-navigate journeys.
"Our study provides important keys to understanding how bumblebees can seemingly perform navigational feats similar to those of mammals despite their brain being the size of a pinhead," says Rickesh Patel, a researcher in sensory biology at Lund University.
The new research results can be used to inspire technological applications, for example in the development of robots, particularly where complex navigation tasks need to be tackled using solutions that are economical in terms of computation and energy. Rickesh Patel says that the new discoveries also ultimately have the potential to be used in robotics that will have a more widespread impact.
For example, the way the bumblebees handle geographic information has the potential to benefit autonomous navigation robots that need to operate without the GPS satellites. Robots with this ability can be very valuable in search and rescue missions in conjunction with crises such as earthquakes, in war zones or in caves where satellite signals can be difficult to use.
Rickesh Patel and his colleagues believe that the study is also of general interest in terms of how we view animals since it shows that insects can perform complex navigation like humans do despite their small brains and relatively limited cognitive abilities.
The study was recently published in the peer reviewed journal PNAS
Text: Lena Björk Blixt
Facts about the study
To investigate the navigation abilities of bumblebees, the researchers built a number of enclosed, circular spaces where they could create a highly controlled environment for the experiment. These "arenas" were 1.5 metres in diameter and enabled the researchers to test the bumblebees' sense of direction in various ways. For example, the bumblebees could be captured at the feeding site in the middle of the arena and, without their knowledge, be moved to a new position inside the arena by the researcher.
