1
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A. K. BK, George EA, Brockmann A. Tropical and montane Apis cerana show distinct dance-distance calibration curves. J Exp Biol 2024; 227:jeb247510. [PMID: 38853597 PMCID: PMC11418176 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.247510] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2024] [Accepted: 05/31/2024] [Indexed: 06/11/2024]
Abstract
Social bees have evolved sophisticated communication systems to recruit nestmates to newly found food sources. As foraging ranges can vary from a few hundred meters to several kilometers depending on the environment or season, populations of social bee species living in different climate zones likely show specific adaptations in their recruitment communication. Accordingly, studies in the western honey bee, Apis mellifera, demonstrated that temperate populations exhibit shallower dance-calibration curves compared with tropical populations. Here, we report the first comparison of calibration curves for three Indian Apis cerana lineages: the tropical Apis indica, and the two montane Himalayan populations Apis cerana cerana (Himachal Pradesh) and Apis cerana kashmirensis (Jammu and Kashmir). We found that the colonies of the two montane A. cerana populations show dance-distance calibration curves with significantly shallower slopes than those of the tropical A. indica. Next, we transferred A. c. cerana colonies to Bangalore (∼ 2600 km away) to obtain calibration curves in the same location as A. indica. The common garden experiment confirmed this difference in slopes, implying that the lineages exhibit genetically fixed differences in dance-distance coding. However, the slopes of the calibration curves of the transferred A. c. cerana colonies were also significantly higher than those of the colonies tested in their original habitat, indicating an important effect of the environment. The differences in dance-distance coding between temperate and tropical A. cerana lineages resemble those described for Apis mellifera, suggesting that populations of both species independently evolved similar adaptations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bharath Kumar A. K.
- National Centre for Biological Sciences - Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru 560065, India
- Department of Apiculture, University of Agricultural Sciences - GKVK, Bengaluru 560065, India
| | - Ebi Antony George
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, Biophore, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Axel Brockmann
- National Centre for Biological Sciences - Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru 560065, India
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2
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Sezen E, Dereszkiewicz E, Hozan A, Bennett MM, Ozturk C, Smith BH, Cook CN. Heritable Cognitive Phenotypes Influence Appetitive Learning but not Extinction in Honey Bees. ANNALS OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2021; 114:606-613. [PMID: 34512859 PMCID: PMC8423107 DOI: 10.1093/aesa/saab023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2020] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Learning and attention allow animals to better navigate complex environments. While foraging, honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) learn several aspects of their foraging environment, such as color and odor of flowers, which likely begins to happen before they evaluate the quality of the food. If bees begin to evaluate quality before they taste food, and then learn the food is depleted, this may create a conflict in what the bee learns and remembers. Individual honey bees differ in their sensitivity to information, thus creating variation in how they learn or do not learn certain environmental stimuli. For example, foraging honey bees exhibit differences in latent inhibition (LI), a learning process through which regular encounter with a stimulus without a consequence such as food can later reduce conditioning to that stimulus. Here, we test whether bees from distinct selected LI genotypes learn differently if reinforced via just antennae or via both antennae + proboscis. We also evaluate whether learned information goes extinct at different rates in these distinct LI genetic lines. We find that high LI bees learned significantly better when they were reinforced both antenna + proboscis, while low LI and control bees learned similarly with the two reinforcement pathways. We also find no differences in the acquisition and extinction of learned information in high LI and low LI bees. Our work provides insight into how underlying cognition may influence how honey bees learn and value information, which may lead to differences in how individuals and colonies make foraging decisions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eda Sezen
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | | | - Alvin Hozan
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Meghan M Bennett
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
- Carl Hayden Honey Bee Research Laboratory, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Cahit Ozturk
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Brian H Smith
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Chelsea N Cook
- Biological Sciences, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, USA
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3
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Abstract
Individual differences in learning can influence how animals respond to and communicate about their environment, which may nonlinearly shape how a social group accomplishes a collective task. There are few empirical examples of how differences in collective dynamics emerge from variation among individuals in cognition. Here, we use a naturally variable and heritable learning behavior called latent inhibition (LI) to show that interactions among individuals that differ in this cognitive ability drive collective foraging behavior in honey bee colonies. We artificially selected two distinct phenotypes: high-LI bees that ignore previously familiar stimuli in favor of novel ones and low-LI bees that learn familiar and novel stimuli equally well. We then provided colonies differentially composed of different ratios of these phenotypes with a choice between familiar and novel feeders. Colonies of predominantly high-LI individuals preferred to visit familiar food locations, while low-LI colonies visited novel and familiar food locations equally. Interestingly, in colonies of mixed learning phenotypes, the low-LI individuals showed a preference to visiting familiar feeders, which contrasts with their behavior when in a uniform low-LI group. We show that the shift in feeder preference of low-LI bees is driven by foragers of the high-LI phenotype dancing more intensely and attracting more followers. Our results reveal that cognitive abilities of individuals and their social interactions, which we argue relate to differences in attention, drive emergent collective outcomes.
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4
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George EA, Bröger A, Thamm M, Brockmann A, Scheiner R. Inter‐individual variation in honey bee dance intensity correlates with expression of the
foraging
gene. GENES BRAIN AND BEHAVIOR 2019; 19:e12592. [DOI: 10.1111/gbb.12592] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2018] [Revised: 05/14/2019] [Accepted: 05/28/2019] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Ebi A. George
- National Centre for Biological Sciences Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Bangalore India
| | - Ann‐Kathrin Bröger
- Behavioral Physiology & Sociobiology, Biocenter University of Würzburg Würzburg Germany
| | - Markus Thamm
- Behavioral Physiology & Sociobiology, Biocenter University of Würzburg Würzburg Germany
| | - Axel Brockmann
- National Centre for Biological Sciences Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Bangalore India
| | - Ricarda Scheiner
- Behavioral Physiology & Sociobiology, Biocenter University of Würzburg Würzburg Germany
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5
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Amiri E, Strand MK, Rueppell O, Tarpy DR. Queen Quality and the Impact of Honey Bee Diseases on Queen Health: Potential for Interactions between Two Major Threats to Colony Health. INSECTS 2017; 8:E48. [PMID: 28481294 PMCID: PMC5492062 DOI: 10.3390/insects8020048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 60] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2017] [Revised: 04/15/2017] [Accepted: 05/04/2017] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Western honey bees, Apis mellifera, live in highly eusocial colonies that are each typically headed by a single queen. The queen is the sole reproductive female in a healthy colony, and because long-term colony survival depends on her ability to produce a large number of offspring, queen health is essential for colony success. Honey bees have recently been experiencing considerable declines in colony health. Among a number of biotic and abiotic factors known to impact colony health, disease and queen failure are repeatedly reported as important factors underlying colony losses. Surprisingly, there are relatively few studies on the relationship and interaction between honey bee diseases and queen quality. It is critical to understand the negative impacts of pests and pathogens on queen health, how queen problems might enable disease, and how both factors influence colony health. Here, we review the current literature on queen reproductive potential and the impacts of honey bee parasites and pathogens on queens. We conclude by highlighting gaps in our knowledge on the combination of disease and queen failure to provide a perspective and prioritize further research to mitigate disease, improve queen quality, and ensure colony health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Esmaeil Amiri
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27402, USA.
- Department of Entomology & Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA.
| | - Micheline K Strand
- Life Science Division, U.S. Army Research Office, Research Triangle Park, Durham, NC 27709, USA.
| | - Olav Rueppell
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27402, USA.
| | - David R Tarpy
- Department of Entomology & Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA.
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6
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Loope KJ, Lopez-Osorio F, Dvořák L. Convergent Reversion to Single Mating in a Wasp Social Parasite. Am Nat 2017; 189:E138-E151. [PMID: 28514634 DOI: 10.1086/691405] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
While eusociality arose in species with single-mating females, multiple mating by queens has evolved repeatedly across the social ants, bees, and wasps. Understanding the benefits and costs of multiple mating of queens is important because polyandry results in reduced relatedness between siblings, reducing kin-selected benefits of helping while also selecting for secondary social traits that reduce intracolony conflict. The leading hypothesis for the benefits of polyandry in social insects emphasizes advantages of a genetically diverse workforce. Workerless social parasite species (inquilines) provide a unique opportunity to test this hypothesis, since they are derived from social ancestors but do not produce workers of their own. Such parasites are thus predicted to evolve single mating because they would experience the costs of multiple mating but not the benefits if such benefits accrue through the production of a genetically diverse group of workers. Here we show that the workerless social parasite Dolichovespula arctica, a derived parasite of wasps, has reverted to obligate single mating from a facultatively polyandrous ancestor, mirroring a similar reversion from obligate polyandry to approximate monandry in a social parasite of fungus-farming ants. This finding and a comparison with two other cases where inquilinism did not induce reversal to monandry support the hypothesis that facultative polyandry can be costly and may be maintained by benefits of a genetically diverse workforce.
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7
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Previtali C, Bongioni G, Costa C, Lodesani M, Galli A. Observation by microsatellite DNA analysis of sperm usage in naturally mated honeybee queens (Apis mellifera ligustica) over a period of two years. ITALIAN JOURNAL OF ANIMAL SCIENCE 2016. [DOI: 10.4081/ijas.2008.465] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
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8
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Jack-McCollough RT, Nieh JC. Honeybees tune excitatory and inhibitory recruitment signalling to resource value and predation risk. Anim Behav 2015. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.09.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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9
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Genetic diversity within honey bee colonies affects pathogen load and relative virus levels in honey bees, Apis mellifera L. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2015. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-015-1965-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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10
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Donaldson-Matasci M, Dornhaus A. Dance communication affects consistency, but not breadth, of resource use in pollen-foraging honey bees. PLoS One 2014; 9:e107527. [PMID: 25271418 PMCID: PMC4182680 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0107527] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2013] [Accepted: 08/19/2014] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
In groups of cooperatively foraging individuals, communication may improve the group’s performance by directing foraging effort to where it is most useful. Honey bees (Apis mellifera) use a specialized dance to communicate the location of floral resources. Because honey bees dance longer for more rewarding resources, communication may shift the colony’s foraging effort towards higher quality resources, and thus narrow the spectrum of resource types used. To test the hypothesis that dance communication changes how much honey bee colonies specialize on particular resources, we manipulated their ability to communicate location, and assessed the relative abundance of different pollen taxa they collected. This was repeated across five natural habitats that differed in floral species richness and spatial distribution. Contrary to expectation, impairing communication did not change the number or diversity of pollen (resource) types used by individual colonies per day. However, colonies with intact dance communication were more consistent in their resource use, while those with impaired communication were more likely to collect rare, novel pollen types. This suggests that communication plays an important role in shaping how much colonies invest in exploring new resources versus exploiting known ones. Furthermore, colonies that did more exploration also tended to collect less pollen overall, but only in environments with greater floral abundance per patch. In such environments, the ability to effectively exploit highly rewarding resources may be especially important–and dance communication may help colonies do just that. This could help explain how communication benefits honey bee colonies, and also why it does so only under certain environmental conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matina Donaldson-Matasci
- Department of Biology, Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, California, United States of America
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - Anna Dornhaus
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, United States of America
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11
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Jeanson R, Weidenmüller A. Interindividual variability in social insects - proximate causes and ultimate consequences. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2013; 89:671-87. [PMID: 24341677 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12074] [Citation(s) in RCA: 151] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2013] [Revised: 11/15/2013] [Accepted: 11/19/2013] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Individuals within social groups often show consistent differences in behaviour across time and context. Such interindividual differences and the evolutionary challenge they present have recently generated considerable interest. Social insects provide some of the most familiar and spectacular examples of social groups with large interindividual differences. Investigating these within-group differences has a long research tradition, and behavioural variability among the workers of a colony is increasingly regarded as fundamental for a key feature of social insects: division of labour. The goal of this review is to illustrate what we know about both the proximate mechanisms underlying behavioural variability among the workers of a colony and its ultimate consequences; and to highlight the many open questions in this research field. We begin by reviewing the literature on mechanisms that potentially introduce, maintain, and adjust the behavioural differentiation among workers. We highlight the fact that so far, most studies have focused on behavioural variability based on genetic variability, provided by e.g. multiple mating of the queen, while other mechanisms that may be responsible for the behavioural differentiation among workers have been largely neglected. These include maturational, nutritional and environmental influences. We further discuss how feedback provided by the social environment and learning and experience of adult workers provides potent and little-explored sources of differentiation. In a second part, we address what is known about the potential benefits and costs of increased behavioural variability within the workers of a colony. We argue that all studies documenting a benefit of variability so far have done so by manipulating genetic variability, and that a direct test of the effect of behavioural variability on colony productivity has yet to be provided. We emphasize that the costs associated with interindividual variability have been largely overlooked, and that a better knowledge of the cost/benefit balance of behavioural variability is crucial for our understanding of the evolution of the mechanisms underlying the social organization of insect societies. We conclude by highlighting what we believe to be promising but little-explored avenues for future research on how within-colony variability has evolved and is maintained. We emphasize the need for comparative studies and point out that, so far, most studies on interindividual variability have focused on variability in individual response thresholds, while the significance of variability in other parameters of individual response, such as probability and intensity of the response, has been largely overlooked. We propose that these parameters have important consequences for the colony response. Much more research is needed to understand if and how interindividual variability is modulated in order to benefit division of labour, homeostasis and ultimately colony fitness in social insects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Raphaël Jeanson
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale, 118 Route de Narbonne, 31062 Cedex 9, Toulouse, France; Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale, Université Paul Sabatier, 118 Route de Narbonne, 31062 Cedex 9, Toulouse, France
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12
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Jandt JM, Bengston S, Pinter-Wollman N, Pruitt JN, Raine NE, Dornhaus A, Sih A. Behavioural syndromes and social insects: personality at multiple levels. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2013; 89:48-67. [PMID: 23672739 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12042] [Citation(s) in RCA: 205] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2012] [Revised: 04/09/2013] [Accepted: 04/17/2013] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Animal personalities or behavioural syndromes are consistent and/or correlated behaviours across two or more situations within a population. Social insect biologists have measured consistent individual variation in behaviour within and across colonies for decades. The goal of this review is to illustrate the ways in which both the study of social insects and of behavioural syndromes has overlapped, and to highlight ways in which both fields can move forward through the synergy of knowledge from each. Here we, (i) review work to date on behavioural syndromes (though not always referred to as such) in social insects, and discuss mechanisms and fitness effects of maintaining individual behavioural variation within and between colonies; (ii) summarise approaches and principles from studies of behavioural syndromes, such as trade-offs, feedback, and statistical methods developed specifically to study behavioural consistencies and correlations, and discuss how they might be applied specifically to the study of social insects; (iii) discuss how the study of social insects can enhance our understanding of behavioural syndromes-research in behavioural syndromes is beginning to explore the role of sociality in maintaining or developing behavioural types, and work on social insects can provide new insights in this area; and (iv) suggest future directions for study, with an emphasis on examining behavioural types at multiple levels of organisation (genes, individuals, colonies, or groups of individuals).
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer M Jandt
- Department of Ecology, Evolutionary and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, 50011, USA
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13
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Rueppell O, Meier S, Deutsch R. Multiple mating but not recombination causes quantitative increase in offspring genetic diversity for varying genetic architectures. PLoS One 2012; 7:e47220. [PMID: 23077571 PMCID: PMC3471945 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0047220] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2012] [Accepted: 09/12/2012] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Explaining the evolution of sex and recombination is particularly intriguing for some species of eusocial insects because they display exceptionally high mating frequencies and genomic recombination rates. Explanations for both phenomena are based on the notion that both increase colony genetic diversity, with demonstrated benefits for colony disease resistance and division of labor. However, the relative contributions of mating number and recombination rate to colony genetic diversity have never been simultaneously assessed. Our study simulates colonies, assuming different mating numbers, recombination rates, and genetic architectures, to assess their worker genotypic diversity. The number of loci has a strong negative effect on genotypic diversity when the allelic effects are inversely scaled to locus number. In contrast, dominance, epistasis, lethal effects, or limiting the allelic diversity at each locus does not significantly affect the model outcomes. Mating number increases colony genotypic variance and lowers variation among colonies with quickly diminishing returns. Genomic recombination rate does not affect intra- and inter-colonial genotypic variance, regardless of mating frequency and genetic architecture. Recombination slightly increases the genotypic range of colonies and more strongly the number of workers with unique allele combinations across all loci. Overall, our study contradicts the argument that the exceptionally high recombination rates cause a quantitative increase in offspring genotypic diversity across one generation. Alternative explanations for the evolution of high recombination rates in social insects are therefore needed. Short-term benefits are central to most explanations of the evolution of multiple mating and high recombination rates in social insects but our results also apply to other species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olav Rueppell
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, North Carolina, USA.
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14
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Mattila HR, Reeve HK, Smith ML. Promiscuous honey bee queens increase colony productivity by suppressing worker selfishness. Curr Biol 2012; 22:2027-31. [PMID: 23022065 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2012.08.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2012] [Revised: 07/29/2012] [Accepted: 08/10/2012] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
Queen monogamy is ancestral among bees, ants, and wasps (Order Hymenoptera), and the close relatedness that it generates within colonies is considered key for the evolution of eusociality in these lineages. Paradoxically, queens of several eusocial species are extremely promiscuous, a derived behavior that decreases relatedness among workers and fitness gained from rearing siblings but benefits queens by enhancing colony productivity and inducing workers to rear queens' sons instead of less related worker-derived males. Selection for promiscuity would be especially strong if productivity in a singly inseminated queen's colony declined because selfish workers invested in personal reproduction at the expense of performing tasks that contribute to colony productivity. We show in honey bees that workers' ovaries are more developed when queens are singly rather than multiply inseminated and that increasing ovary activation is coupled with reductions in task performance by workers and colony-wide rates of foraging and waggle-dance recruitment. Increased investment in reproductive physiology by selfish workers might result from greater incentive for them to favor worker-derived males or because low mating frequency signals a queen's diminished quality or future fecundity. Either possibility fosters selection for queen promiscuity, revealing a novel benefit of it for eusocial insects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heather R Mattila
- Department of Biological Sciences, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA 02481, USA.
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15
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Brodschneider R, Arnold G, Hrassnigg N, Crailsheim K. Does Patriline Composition Change over a Honey Bee Queen's Lifetime? INSECTS 2012; 3:857-69. [PMID: 26466632 PMCID: PMC4553593 DOI: 10.3390/insects3030857] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2012] [Revised: 08/27/2012] [Accepted: 08/30/2012] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
A honey bee queen mates with a number of drones a few days after she emerges as an adult. Spermatozoa of different drones are stored in her spermatheca and used for the rest of the queen's life to fertilize eggs. Sperm usage is thought to be random, so that the patriline distribution within a honey bee colony would remain constant over time. In this study we assigned the progeny of a naturally mated honey bee queen to patrilines using microsatellite markers at the queen's age of two, three and four years. No significant changes in patriline distribution occurred within each of two foraging seasons, with samples taken one and five months apart, respectively. Overall and pair-wise comparisons between the three analyzed years reached significant levels. Over the three-year period we found a trend for patrilines to become more equally represented with time. It is important to note that this study was performed with a single queen, and thus individual and population variation in sperm usage patterns must be assessed. We discuss long-term changes in patriline composition due to mixing processes in the queen's spermatheca, following incomplete mixing of different drones' sperm after mating.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert Brodschneider
- Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Av. Carlos Chagas Filho, 373, CCS, Bloco Bss 31, University City, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, CEP: 21.941-902, Brazil.
| | - Gérard Arnold
- Karl-Franzens-University Graz, Universitätsplatz 2, A-8010 Graz, Austria.
| | - Norbert Hrassnigg
- Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Av. Carlos Chagas Filho, 373, CCS, Bloco Bss 31, University City, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, CEP: 21.941-902, Brazil.
| | - Karl Crailsheim
- Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Av. Carlos Chagas Filho, 373, CCS, Bloco Bss 31, University City, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, CEP: 21.941-902, Brazil.
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16
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Tooker JF, Frank SD. Genotypically diverse cultivar mixtures for insect pest management and increased crop yields. J Appl Ecol 2012. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2664.2012.02173.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 156] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- John F. Tooker
- Department of Entomology; The Pennsylvania State University; 501 ASI Building; University Park; PA; 16802; USA
| | - Steven D. Frank
- Department of Entomology; North Carolina State University; 3318 Gardner Hall; Raleigh; NC; 27695-7613; USA
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17
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Mattila HR, Rios D, Walker-Sperling VE, Roeselers G, Newton ILG. Characterization of the active microbiotas associated with honey bees reveals healthier and broader communities when colonies are genetically diverse. PLoS One 2012; 7:e32962. [PMID: 22427917 PMCID: PMC3299707 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0032962] [Citation(s) in RCA: 94] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2011] [Accepted: 02/07/2012] [Indexed: 01/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Recent losses of honey bee colonies have led to increased interest in the microbial communities that are associated with these important pollinators. A critical function that bacteria perform for their honey bee hosts, but one that is poorly understood, is the transformation of worker-collected pollen into bee bread, a nutritious food product that can be stored for long periods in colonies. We used 16S rRNA pyrosequencing to comprehensively characterize in genetically diverse and genetically uniform colonies the active bacterial communities that are found on honey bees, in their digestive tracts, and in bee bread. This method provided insights that have not been revealed by past studies into the content and benefits of honey bee-associated microbial communities. Colony microbiotas differed substantially between sampling environments and were dominated by several anaerobic bacterial genera never before associated with honey bees, but renowned for their use by humans to ferment food. Colonies with genetically diverse populations of workers, a result of the highly promiscuous mating behavior of queens, benefited from greater microbial diversity, reduced pathogen loads, and increased abundance of putatively helpful bacteria, particularly species from the potentially probiotic genus Bifidobacterium. Across all colonies, Bifidobacterium activity was negatively correlated with the activity of genera that include pathogenic microbes; this relationship suggests a possible target for understanding whether microbes provide protective benefits to honey bees. Within-colony diversity shapes microbiotas associated with honey bees in ways that may have important repercussions for colony function and health. Our findings illuminate the importance of honey bee-bacteria symbioses and examine their intersection with nutrition, pathogen load, and genetic diversity, factors that are considered key to understanding honey bee decline.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heather R. Mattila
- Department of Biological Sciences, Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachussetts, United States of America
| | - Daniela Rios
- Department of Biological Sciences, Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachussetts, United States of America
| | | | - Guus Roeselers
- Microbiology & Systems Biology group, TNO, Utrechtseweg, Zeist, The Netherlands
| | - Irene L. G. Newton
- Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, United States of America
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18
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Wilson-Rich N, Tarpy DR, Starks PT. Within- and across-colony effects of hyperpolyandry on immune function and body condition in honey bees (Apis mellifera). JOURNAL OF INSECT PHYSIOLOGY 2012; 58:402-407. [PMID: 22233933 DOI: 10.1016/j.jinsphys.2011.12.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2011] [Revised: 12/27/2011] [Accepted: 12/28/2011] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
Honey bees (Apis mellifera) have become a model system for studies on the influence of genetic diversity on disease. Honey bee queens mate with a remarkably high number of males-up to 29 in the current study-from which they produce a colony of genetically diverse daughter workers. Recent evidence suggests a significant benefit of intracolony genetic diversity on disease resistance. Here, we explored the relationship between the level of genetic diversity and multiple physiological mechanisms of cellular and humoral immune defense (encapsulation response and phenoloxidase activity). We also investigated an effect of genetic diversity on a measure of body condition (fat body mass). While we predicted that mean colony phenoloxidase activity, encapsulation response, and fat body mass would show a positive relationship with increased intracolonial genetic diversity, we found no significant relationship between genetic diversity and these immune measures, and found no consistent effect on body condition. These results suggest that high genetic diversity as a result of extreme polyandry may have little bearing on the physiological mechanisms of immune function at naturally occurring mating levels in honey bees.
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Affiliation(s)
- Noah Wilson-Rich
- Department of Biology, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155, United States.
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Girard MB, Mattila HR, Seeley TD. Recruitment-dance signals draw larger audiences when honey bee colonies have multiple patrilines. INSECTES SOCIAUX 2011; 58:77-86. [PMID: 21350596 PMCID: PMC3028068 DOI: 10.1007/s00040-010-0118-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2010] [Revised: 08/19/2010] [Accepted: 08/24/2010] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
Honey bee queens (Apis mellifera) who mate with multiple males produce colonies that are filled with numerous genetically distinct patrilines of workers. A genetically diverse colony benefits from an enhanced foraging effort, fuelled in part by an increase in the number of recruitment signals that are produced by foragers. However, the influence of patriline diversity on the attention paid to these signals by audiences of potentially receptive workers remains unexplored. To determine whether recruitment dances performed by foragers in multiple-patriline colonies attract a greater number of dance followers than dances in colonies that lack patriline diversity, we trained workers from multiple- and single-patriline colonies to forage in a greenhouse and monitored their dance-following activity back in the hives. On average, more workers followed a dance if it was performed in a multiple-patriline colony rather than a single-patriline colony (33% increase), and for a greater number of dance circuits per follower. Furthermore, dance-following workers in multiple-patriline colonies were more likely to exit their hive after following a dance, although this did not translate to a difference in colony-level exit rates between treatment types. Recruiting nest mates to profitable food sources through dance communication is critical to a colony's foraging success and long-term fitness; polyandrous queens produce colonies that benefit not only from increased recruitment signalling, but also from the generation of larger and more attentive audiences of signal receivers. This study highlights the importance of integrating responses of both signal senders and receivers to understand more fully the success of animal-communication systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- M. B. Girard
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, 137 Mulford Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA
| | - H. R. Mattila
- Department of Biological Sciences, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA 02481 USA
| | - T. D. Seeley
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 USA
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Folse H, Roughgarden J. What is an Individual Organism? A Multilevel Selection Perspective. QUARTERLY REVIEW OF BIOLOGY 2010; 85:447-72. [DOI: 10.1086/656905] [Citation(s) in RCA: 72] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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Eckholm BJ, Anderson KE, Weiss M, DeGrandi-Hoffman G. Intracolonial genetic diversity in honeybee (Apis mellifera) colonies increases pollen foraging efficiency. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2010. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-010-1108-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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Mattila HR, Seeley TD. Does a polyandrous honeybee queen improve through patriline diversity the activity of her colony’s scouting foragers? Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2010. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-010-1083-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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23
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Oxley PR, Spivak M, Oldroyd BP. Six quantitative trait loci influence task thresholds for hygienic behaviour in honeybees (Apis mellifera). Mol Ecol 2010; 19:1452-61. [PMID: 20298472 DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-294x.2010.04569.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 81] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Honeybee hygienic behaviour provides colonies with protection from many pathogens and is an important model system of the genetics of a complex behaviour. It is a textbook example of complex behaviour under simple genetic control: hygienic behaviour consists of two components--uncapping a diseased brood cell, followed by removal of the contents--each of which are thought to be modulated independently by a few loci of medium to large effect. A worker's genetic propensity to engage in hygienic tasks affects the intensity of the stimulus required before she initiates the behaviour. Genetic diversity within colonies leads to task specialization among workers, with a minority of workers performing the majority of nest-cleaning tasks. We identify three quantitative trait loci that influence the likelihood that workers will engage in hygienic behaviour and account for up to 30% of the phenotypic variability in hygienic behaviour in our population. Furthermore, we identify two loci that influence the likelihood that a worker will perform uncapping behaviour only, and one locus that influences removal behaviour. We report the first candidate genes associated with engaging in hygienic behaviour, including four genes involved in olfaction, learning and social behaviour, and one gene involved in circadian locomotion. These candidates will allow molecular characterization of this distinctive behavioural mode of disease resistance, as well as providing the opportunity for marker-assisted selection for this commercially significant trait.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter R Oxley
- Behaviour and Genetics of Social Insects Laboratory, School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
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Mattila HR, Seeley TD. Promiscuous honeybee queens generate colonies with a critical minority of waggle-dancing foragers. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2010. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-010-0904-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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A Negative Feedback Signal That Is Triggered by Peril Curbs Honey Bee Recruitment. Curr Biol 2010; 20:310-5. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2009.12.060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 115] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2009] [Revised: 12/04/2009] [Accepted: 12/08/2009] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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Johnson BR. A self-organizing model for task allocation via frequent task quitting and random walks in the honeybee. Am Nat 2009; 174:537-47. [PMID: 19691433 DOI: 10.1086/605373] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
Social insect colonies are able to quickly redistribute their thousands of workers between tasks that vary strongly in space and time. How individuals collectively track spatial variability is particularly puzzling because bees have access only to local information. This work presents and tests a model showing how honeybees solve their fundamental within-nest spatial task-allocation problem. The algorithm, which is self-organizing and derived from empirical studies, couples two processes with opposing effects. Frequent task quitting, followed by patrols, during which bees are insensitive to task stimuli, serves to randomize individual location throughout the nest without reference to variation in task demand, while a foraging-for-work-like mechanism provides the opposing force of localizing individuals to areas of high task demand. This simple model is shown to generate sophisticated patterns of task allocation. It allocates bees to tasks in proportion to their demand, independent of their spatial distribution in the nest, and also reallocates labor in response to temporal changes in task demand. Finally, the model shows that task-allocation patterns at the colony level do not reflect colonies allocating particular individuals to tasks. In contrast, they reflect a dynamic equilibrium of workers switching between tasks and locations in the nest.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian R Johnson
- Department of Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA.
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Speed–accuracy tradeoffs in animal decision making. Trends Ecol Evol 2009; 24:400-7. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2009.02.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 401] [Impact Index Per Article: 26.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2008] [Revised: 01/29/2009] [Accepted: 02/02/2009] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
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Duong N, Schneider SS. Intra-Patriline Variability in the Performance of the Vibration Signal and Waggle Dance in the Honey Bee, Apis mellifera. Ethology 2008. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1439-0310.2008.01504.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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Hughes WOH, Ratnieks FLW, Oldroyd BP. Multiple paternity or multiple queens: two routes to greater intracolonial genetic diversity in the eusocial Hymenoptera. J Evol Biol 2008; 21:1090-5. [PMID: 18422530 DOI: 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2008.01532.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 84] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Understanding the evolution of multiple mating by females (polyandry) is an important question in behavioural ecology. Most leading explanations for polyandry by social insect queens are based upon a postulated fitness benefit from increased intracolonial genetic diversity, which also arises when colonies are headed by multiple queens (polygyny). An indirect test of the genetic diversity hypotheses is therefore provided by the relationship between polyandry and polygyny across species, which should be negative if the genetic diversity hypotheses are correct. Here, we conduct a powerful comparative investigation of the relationship between polyandry and polygyny for 241 species of eusocial Hymenoptera (ants, bees and wasps). We find a clear and significant negative relationship between polyandry and polygyny after controlling for phylogeny. These results strongly suggest that fitness benefits resulting from increased intracolonial genetic diversity have played an important role in the evolution of polyandry, and possibly polygyny, in social insects.
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Affiliation(s)
- W O H Hughes
- Institute of Integrative and Comparative Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
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