Most animals rely on vision to perform a range of behavioural tasks and variations in the anatomy and physiology of the eye likely reflect differences in habitat and life history. Moreover, eye design represents a balance between often conflicting requirements for gathering different forms of visual information. The trade-off between spatial resolving power and contrast sensitivity is common to all visual systems, and European honeybees (Apis mellifera) present an important opportunity to better understand this trade-off. Vision has been studied extensively in A. mellifera as it is vital for foraging, navigation and communication. Consequently, spatial resolving power and contrast sensitivity in A. mellifera have been measured using several methodologies; however, there is considerable variation in estimates between methodologies. We assess pattern electroretinography (pERG) as a new method for assessing the trade-off between visual spatial and contrast information in A.mellifera. pERG has the benefit of measuring spatial contrast sensitivity from higher order visual processing neurons in the eye. Spatial resolving power of A.mellifera estimated from pERG was 0.54 cycles per degree (cpd), and contrast sensitivity was 16.9. pERG estimates of contrast sensitivity were comparable to previous behavioural studies. Estimates of spatial resolving power reflected anatomical estimates in the frontal region of the eye, which corresponds to the region stimulated by pERG. Apis mellifera has similar spatial contrast sensitivity to other hymenopteran insects with similar facet diameter (Myrmecia ant species). Our results support the idea that eye anatomy has a substantial effect on spatial contrast sensitivity in compound eyes.

中文翻译：

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蜜蜂Apis mellifera在空间分辨力和对比度敏感度周围的嗡嗡声。

大多数动物依靠视觉来执行一系列行为任务，眼睛的解剖结构和生理变化可能反映了栖息地和生活史的差异。而且，眼睛设计代表了在收集不同形式的视觉信息时经常相互冲突的要求之间的平衡。空间分辨力和对比度灵敏度之间的权衡对于所有视觉系统都是常见的，欧洲蜜蜂（Apis mellifera）提供了一个重要机会，可以更好地理解这种权衡。视觉已经在蜜蜂中进行了广泛的研究，因为视觉对于觅食，导航和交流至关重要。因此，已经使用多种方法测量了A. mellifera的空间分辨能力和对比度灵敏度。但是，不同方法之间的估计差异很大。我们评估模式视网膜电图（pERG）作为评估A.mellifera中视觉空间和对比度信息之间权衡的一种新方法。pERG的优势在于可以测量眼睛中更高阶视觉处理神经元的空间对比敏感度。根据pERG估算的A.mellifera的空间分辨能力为每度0.54个循环（cpd），对比敏感度为16.9。对比敏感度的pERG估计与以前的行为研究相当。空间分辨力的估计反映了眼睛额叶区域的解剖学估计，该区域对应于pERG刺激的区域。蜜蜂与其他具有相似小面直径的膜翅目昆虫（Myrmecia ant种）具有相似的空间对比度敏感性。