Ecology and the evolution of cognition in social bees

Social bees exhibit extraordinary cognitive abilities at both the individual and group level, which guide their search for food in a relatively vast and dynamic foraging landscape.

What can we learn from them about the ecological factors that favour the evolution of traits such as learning and memory?

We have used bumblebees and honeybees as models to compare the challenges posed by different ecological environments and/or tasks, to explore the selection pressures that may shape cognitive traits in pollinators and beyond.

Read more of Professor Leadbeater's research