Life history of learning: performance curves of honeybees in settings that minimize the role of learning

Life history research has mostly neglected learning even though it is probably a major contributor to lifetime performance in a variety of animals. As part of an ongoing project evaluating the relative contribution of learning, physiology and effort to performance throughout the life span, I quantified lifetime performance of honeybees, Apis mellifera, foraging at a feeder. Unlike natural foraging, where bees may learn a variety of features …