Can bees compensate for a poor nutritional past?

Nutrition has a fundamental influence on a wide range of characteristics including behavior and life history traits. The timing of nutritional stressors has been shown to have strong effects in many animals with stress at key development points often leading to irreversible deficits in physiology and behavior. However, some compensation for these early deficits may be possible if animals have access to supplemental nutrition later in life. In this study, we examine the effects of chronic nutritional stress, and nutritional stress occurring only during development or adulthood on cognitive performance. Using the honeybee as a model, in which developmental nutritional needs differ greatly from adult requirements, we test whether and to what extent animals can make up for a nutritional stress during development. Our study sheds lights on whether the effects of a brief period of nutritional shortage such as one caused by poor weather can be reversed by supplemental feeding. The results also add to the growing literature regarding how early nutritional adversity can affect the health outcomes of individuals during adulthood.