Data from: A novel protocol for studying bee cognition in the wild

1.Understanding how animals perceive, learn and remember stimuli is
critical for understanding both how cognition is shaped by natural
selection, and how ecological factors impact behaviour. However, the
majority of studies on cognition involve captive animals in laboratory
settings. While controlled settings are required to accurately measure
aspects of cognition, they may not yield realistic estimates of learning
performance in natural environments. Wild bees offer a useful system in
which to study cognitive ecology as well as comparative cognition more
broadly: they encompass around 20,000 species globally, varying in
characteristics such as life history strategy, degree of sociality, and
dietary specialization. Yet the limited number of protocols currently
available for studying insect cognition has restricted research to a few
commercially available bee species, in almost exclusively lab settings.
2.We present a protocol (Free-Moving Proboscis Extension Response [FMPER])
to measure wild bees’ colour preferences, learning performance, and
memory. 3.We first used lab-reared bumblebees Bombus impatiens to
establish that FMPER yielded results consistent with learning theory. We
then successfully tested wild honeybees Apis mellifera in the lab, and
Bombus vosnesenskii at field sites. 4. FMPER is straightforward to
implement, low-cost, and may be readily adapted to other flower-visiting
insects. We believe it will be useful to a broad range of evolutionary
biologists, behavioural ecologists, and pollination ecologists interested
in measuring cognitive performance in the wild and across a broader range
of species.