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1.
Recent studies indicate that the foraging success of a honeybee colony is enhanced when it has numerous genetically diverse
patrilines because of queen polyandry. We determined whether foraging is improved in part because patriline diversity generates
more responsive populations of scouting foragers. Scouts search for new food sources and advertise them with waggle dances
to inform other foragers about unexploited discoveries. We moved multiple-patriline and single-patriline colonies to unfamiliar
locations so that colonies relied heavily on successful scouts to initiate recruitment and then compared the development of
foraging effort between the two types of colonies. More waggle dance signals were produced during the incipient stages of
foraging in multiple-patriline colonies compared to single-patriline colonies because scouts reported food discoveries with
longer dances. Scouts also returned to multiple-patriline colonies at rates that were two thirds higher than those of single-patriline
colonies, although return rates for general forager populations were not significantly different between colony types. The
distance of reported food sources from hives increased with time for all colonies, but by the end of their first day in an
unfamiliar environment, maximal foraging reach was greater if colonies had multiple patrilines. Most scouts in multiple-patriline
colonies came from a minority of scout-rich patrilines that were generally not those from which general forager populations
were derived; the presence of such scout-rich patrilines was correlated with the extent of recruitment signaling in colonies.
We show how a honeybee colony’s scouting effort is (and is not) enhanced when extremely polyandrous queens produce genetically
diverse colonies. 相似文献
2.
Nadine C. Chapman Benjamin P. Oldroyd William O. H. Hughes 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2007,61(8):1185-1194
Which task a social insect worker engages in is influenced by the worker’s age, genotype and the colony’s needs. In the honeybee,
Apis mellifera, genotype influences both the age a worker switches tasks and its propensity of engaging in specialist tasks, such as water
collecting, which only some workers will perform. In this study, we used colonies with natural levels of genetic diversity
and manipulated colony age demography to drastically increase the stimuli for the generalist tasks of foraging and nursing,
which all workers are thought to engage in at some point in their lives. We examined the representation of worker patrilines
engaged in nursing and foraging before and after the perturbation. The representation of patrilines among foragers and nurses
differed from that of their overall colony’s population. In the case of foraging, over- and underrepresentation of some patrilines
was not simply due to differences in rates of development among patrilines. We show that replacement foragers tend to be drawn
from patrilines that were overrepresented among foragers before the perturbation, suggesting that there is a genetic component
to the tendency to engage in foraging. In contrast, the representation of patrilines in replacement nurses differed from that
in the unperturbed nursing population. Our results show that there is a genetic influence on even the generalist tasks of
foraging and nursing, and that the way patrilines in genetically diverse colonies respond to increases in task stimuli depends
upon the task. The possible significance of this genetic influence on task allocation is discussed.
Electronic supplementary material Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at doi: and is accessible to authorized users. 相似文献
3.
Danesh Tarapore Dario Floreano Laurent Keller 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2010,64(4):675-684
Division of labour is one of the most prominent features of social insects. The efficient allocation of individuals to different
tasks requires dynamic adjustment in response to environmental perturbations. Theoretical models suggest that the colony-level
flexibility in responding to external changes and internal perturbation may depend on the within-colony genetic diversity,
which is affected by the number of breeding individuals. However, these models have not considered the genetic architecture
underlying the propensity of workers to perform the various tasks. Here, we investigated how both within-colony genetic variability
(stemming from variation in the number of matings by queens) and the number of genes influencing the stimulus (threshold)
for a given task at which workers begin to perform that task jointly influence task allocation efficiency. We used a numerical
agent-based model to investigate the situation where workers had to perform either a regulatory task or a foraging task. One
hundred generations of artificial selection in populations consisting of 500 colonies revealed that an increased number of
matings always improved colony performance, whatever the number of loci encoding the thresholds of the regulatory and foraging
tasks. However, the beneficial effect of additional matings was particularly important when the genetic architecture of queens
comprised one or a few genes for the foraging task’s threshold. By contrast, a higher number of genes encoding the foraging
task reduced colony performance with the detrimental effect being stronger when queens had mated with several males. Finally,
the number of genes encoding the threshold for the regulatory task only had a minor effect on colony performance. Overall,
our numerical experiments support the importance of mating frequency on efficiency of division of labour and also reveal complex
interactions between the number of matings and genetic architecture. 相似文献
4.
This study investigates the brief piping signals ("stop signals") of honey bee workers by exploring the context in which worker piping occurs and the identity and behavior of piping workers. Piping was stimulated reliably by promoting a colony's nectar foraging activity, demonstrating a causal connection between worker piping and nectar foraging. Comparison of the behavior of piping versus non-piping nectar foragers revealed many differences, e.g., piping nectar foragers spent more time in the hive, started to dance earlier, spent more time dancing, and spent less time on the dance floor. Most piping signals (approximately 99%) were produced by tremble dancers, yet not all (approximately 48%) tremble dancers piped, suggesting that the short piping signal and the tremble dance have related, but not identical, functions in the nectar foraging communication system. Our observations of the location and behavior of piping tremble dancers suggest that the brief piping signal may (1) retard recruitment to a low-quality food source, and (2) help to enhance the recruitment success of the tremble dance. 相似文献
5.
Dorte Bekkevold Jane Frydenberg Jacobus J. Boomsma 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》1999,46(2):103-109
Queen mating frequency of the facultatively polygynous ant Acromyrmex echinatior was investigated by analysing genetic variation at an (AG)n repeat microsatellite locus in workers and sexuals of 20 colonies from a single Panamanian population. Thirteen colonies
were found to be monogynous, 5 colonies contained multiple queens, whereas the queen number of 2 colonies remained unresolved.
Microsatellite genotypes indicated that 12 out of 13 queens were inseminated by multiple males (polyandry). The mean queen
mating frequency was 2.53 and the mean genetically effective paternity frequency was 2.23. These values range among the highest
found in ants, and the results are in keeping with the high mating frequencies reported for other species of leafcutter ants.
Consistent skew in the proportional representation of different patrilines within colonies was found, and this remained constant
in two consecutive samples of offspring. Dissections showed that all examined queens from multiple-queen colonies were mated
egg-layers. The mean relatedness value among nestmate workers in polygynous colonies was lower than that for monogynous colonies.
No diploid males were detected in a sample of 70 genotyped males. Worker production of males was detected in one queenless
colony. We discuss our findings in relation to known patterns of multiple maternity and paternity in other eusocial Hymenoptera.
Received: 2 September 1998 / Received in revised form: 3 February 1999 / Accepted: 7 February 1999 相似文献
6.
Bruce J. Eckholm Kirk E. Anderson Milagra Weiss Gloria DeGrandi-Hoffman 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2011,65(5):1037-1044
Multiple mating by honeybee queens results in colonies of genotypically diverse workers. Recent studies have demonstrated
that increased genetic diversity within a honeybee colony increases the variation in the frequency of tasks performed by workers.
We show that genotypically diverse colonies, each composed of 20 subfamilies, collect more pollen than do genotypically similar
colonies, each composed of a single subfamily. However, genotypically similar colonies collect greater varieties of pollen
than do genotypically diverse colonies. Further, the composition of collected pollen types is less similar among genotypically
similar colonies than among genotypically diverse colonies. The response threshold model predicts that genotypic subsets of
workers vary in their response to task stimuli. Consistent with this model, our findings suggest that genotypically diverse
colonies likely send out fewer numbers of foragers that independently search for pollen sources (scouts) in response to protein
demand by the colony, resulting in a lower variety of collected pollen types. The cooperative foraging strategy of honeybees
involves a limited number of scouts monitoring the environment that then guide the majority of foragers to high quality food
sources. The genetic composition of the colony appears to play an important role in the efficiency of this behavior. 相似文献
7.
The mating frequency of queens was estimated for eight attine ant species, Myrmicocrypta ednaella, Apterostigma mayri, Cyphomyrmex costatus, C. rimosus (four lower attines), Trachymyrmex isthmicus, Serico-myrmex amabalis, Acromyrmex octospinosus and Atta colombica (four higher attines), and correlated to colony size, worker polyethism, and sex ratio. Mating frequency was calculated from
within-colony relatedness estimated by CAP-PCR DNA fingerprinting. Most queens of lower attines and T. isthmicus mated with only one male, while those of the three higher attines mated with multiple males. Mating frequency was positively
correlated with colony size. Polyethism among workers was dependent on worker age in lower attines but on body size in higher
attines, suggesting some correlation between mating frequency (i.e., within-colony gene diversity) and caste complexity. The
sex ratio was biased toward females in species where the mating frequency equaled one, but toward males in species where the
mating frequency was greater than two. Changing in nest site from ground surface to deep underground may have facilitated
the evolution of large colony size in Attini, and this may have resulted in the evolution of polyandry (a queen mates with
multiple males). With the evolution of polyandry in higher attines, Atta and Acromyrmex in particular have generated high genetic diversity within their colonies and complex social structures.
Received: 26 October 1999 / Revised: 25 May 2000 / Accepted: 24 June 2000 相似文献
8.
Gustavo R. Makert Robert J. Paxton Klaus Hartfelder 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2006,60(6):815-825
A honeybee queen normally mates with 10–20 drones, and reproductive conflicts may arise among a colony’s different worker patrilines, especially after a colony has lost its single queen and the workers commence egg laying. In this study, we employed microsatellite markers to study aspects of worker reproductive competition in two queenless Africanized honeybee colonies. First, we determined whether there was a bias among worker patrilines in their maternity of drones and, second, we asked whether this bias could be attributed to differences in the degree of ovary activation of workers. Third, we relate these behavioral and physiological factors to ontogenetic differences between workers with respect to ovariole number. Workers from each of three (colony A) and one (colony B) patrilineal genotypes represented less than 6% of the worker population, yet each produced at least 13% of the drones in a colony, and collectively they produced 73% of the drones. Workers representing these genotypes also had more developed follicles and a greater number of ovarioles per ovary. Across all workers, ovariole development and number were closely correlated. This suggests a strong effect of worker genotype on the development of the ovary already in the postembryonic stages and sets a precedent to adult fertility, so that “workers are not born equal”. We hypothesize a frequency-dependent or “rare patriline” advantage to queenless workers over the parentage of males and discuss the maintenance of genetic variance in the reproductive capacity of workers.Electronic supplementary material Supplementary material is available for this article at and is accessible for authorized users. 相似文献
9.
We studied the extent to which worker honey bees acquire information from waggle dances throughout their careers as foragers. Small groups of foragers were monitored from time of orientation flights to time of death and all in-hive behaviors relating to foraging were recorded. In the context of a novice forager finding her first food source, 60% of the bees relied, at least in part, on acquiring information from waggle dances (being recruited) rather than searching independently (scouting). In the context of an experienced forager whose foraging has been interrupted, 37% of the time the bees resumed foraging by following waggle dances (being reactivated) rather than examining the food source on their own (inspecting). And in the context of an experienced forager engaged in foraging, 17% of the time the bees initiated a foraging trip by following a waggle dance. Such dance following was observed much more often after an unsuccessful than after a successful foraging trip. Successful foragers often followed dances just briefly, perhaps to confirm that the kind of flowers they had been visiting were still yielding forage. Overall, waggle dance following for food discovery accounted for 12–25% of all interactions with dancers (9% by novice foragers and 3–16% by experienced foragers) whereas dance following for reactivation and confirmation accounted for the other 75–88% (26% for reactivation and 49–62% for confirmation). We conclude that foragers make extensive use of the waggle dance not only to start work at new, unfamiliar food sources but also to resume work at old, familiar food sources. 相似文献
10.
Informational constraints can be an important limitation on the accuracy of recognition. One potential constraint is the use
of recognition information from the same sources in multiple discriminatory contexts. Worker wood ants, Formica fusca, discriminate eggs based on their maternal sources of origin in two main contexts: recognition of eggs laid by nestmate versus
non-nestmate queens and recognition of worker-laid versus queen-laid eggs. We manipulated the experience of F. fusca workers in laboratory colonies to both worker-laid and queen-laid eggs by transferring eggs between colonies in order to
investigate whether these two contexts of egg discrimination are independent. Experience of non-nestmate queen-laid eggs significantly
increased worker acceptance of both familiar (18% accepted) and unfamiliar (10%) queen-laid eggs compared to control workers
without experience of eggs other than those laid by their own colony’s queen (2%). In contrast, worker acceptance of worker-laid
eggs was not affected by variation in the egg experience of workers (14% in workers from control colonies exposed only to
eggs from their own colony’s queen versus 19% and 17% in workers from colonies which had received eggs laid by either a non-nestmate
queen or nestmate workers, respectively). Our results suggest that these two recognition contexts do not strongly constrain
each other and are different in their ontogeny. In particular, worker-laid eggs are universally discriminated against by workers
from colonies with a queen whatever the egg experience of the workers, while non-nestmate queen-laid eggs are strongly discriminated
against only by workers without experience of eggs laid by more than one queen. 相似文献
11.
Ignacio Fernández-Escudero Pekka Pamilo Perttu Seppä 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2002,51(3):207-213
The occurrence and genetic effects of polyandry were studied in the ant Proformica longiseta using three microsatellite markers. The average queen mating frequency (QMF) estimated from the sperm dissected from the spermathecae of 61 queens was 2.4 with 69% of the queens being multiply mated. QMF estimated from worker offspring in a subsample of eight monogynous colonies was 3.5, but the effective paternity (me,p) was only 1.23. The difference between these values reflected unequal sperm use by the queens. Most colonies of P. longiseta were polygynous and the average relatedness among workers was 0.35. Polyandry thus added only marginally to the genetic diversity of colonies, and our results gave little support to the genetic-variability hypothesis for explaining polyandry. Diploid male load was low, as only 1% of males were diploid. A large majority (92%) of nests produced one sex only, with males produced in colonies that had higher than average worker relatedness. This contradicted the predictions derived from worker control of sex ratios. Males produced enough sperm to fill the spermathecae of several queens. Thus, the results indicated that diploid male load, sperm limitation and sex ratio conflict are also unlikely explanations of polyandry. Plausible hypotheses for polyandry include mating by convenience, as the sex ratio is male biased and the mating costs to a female can be low because the females are wingless and have no mating flight. The observed unequal sperm use furthermore points to sperm choice and sperm competition as important factors in the evolution of polyandry. 相似文献
12.
Eldridge S. Adams Lynn Atkinson Mark S. Bulmer 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2007,61(8):1195-1201
Loss of aggression between social groups can have far-reaching effects on the structure of societies and populations. We tested
whether variation in the genetic structure of colonies of the termite Nasutitermes corniger affects the probability of aggression toward non-nestmates and the ability of unrelated colonies to fuse. We determined the
genotypes of workers and soldiers from 120 colonies at seven polymorphic microsatellite loci. Twenty-seven colonies contained
offspring of multiple founding queens or kings, yielding an average within-colony relatedness of 0.33. Genotypes in the remaining
93 colonies were consistent with reproduction by a single queen and king or their progeny, with an average within-colony relatedness
of 0.51. In standardized assays, the probability of aggression between workers and soldiers from different colonies was an
increasing function of within-colony relatedness. The probability of aggression was not affected significantly by the degree
of relatedness between colonies, which was near zero in all cases, or by whether the colonies were neighbors. To test whether
these assays of aggression predict the potential for colony fusion in the field, we transplanted selected nests to new locations.
Workers and soldiers from colonies that were mutually tolerant in laboratory assays joined their nests without fighting, but
workers and soldiers that were mutually aggressive in the assays initiated massive battles. These results suggest that the
presence of multiple unrelated queens or kings promotes recognition errors, which can lead to the formation of more complex
colony structures. 相似文献
13.
Joël Meunier Luma Delaplace Michel Chapuisat 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2010,64(10):1655-1663
The ability to discriminate against competitors shapes cooperation and conflicts in all forms of social life. In insect societies,
workers may detect and destroy eggs laid by other workers or by foreign queens, which can contribute to regulate reproductive
conflicts among workers and queens. Variation in colony kin structure affects the magnitude of these conflicts and the diversity
of cues used for discrimination, but the impact of the number of queens per colony on the ability of workers to discriminate
between eggs of diverse origin has so far not been investigated. Here, we examined whether workers from the socially polymorphic
ant Formica selysi distinguished eggs laid by nestmate workers from eggs laid by nestmate queens, as well as eggs laid by foreign queens from
eggs laid by nestmate queens. Workers from single- and multiple-queen colonies discriminated worker-laid from queen-laid eggs,
and eliminated the former. This suggests that workers collectively police each other in order to limit the colony-level costs
of worker reproduction and not because of relatedness differences towards queens’ and workers’ sons. Workers from single-queen
colonies discriminated eggs laid by foreign queens of the same social structure from eggs laid by nestmate queens. In contrast,
workers from multiple-queen colonies did not make this distinction, possibly because cues on workers or eggs are more diverse.
Overall, these data indicate that the ability of F. selysi workers to discriminate eggs is sufficient to restrain worker reproduction but does not permit discrimination between matrilines
in multiple-queen colonies. 相似文献
14.
Social insects are a widespread and ecologically dominant group. Reproductive division of labour among the females in the
colonies is a key trait for their success, but at the same time, it creates dense aggregations of relatives which may promote
the spread of disease in the colonies. Hence, the appropriate regulation of immune defence is crucial for the well-being of
a colony. Inbreeding may disturb this process through reduced resistance or by impairing the colony’s ability to regulate
the responses. We tested the effect of inbreeding and the within-colony differences in the encapsulation response between
the two female castes of the ant Formica exsecta. New reproductive females (gynes) born in more inbred colonies, and being more inbred themselves, showed an elevated immune
response whereas inbreeding had no effect on worker response. Furthermore, the immune response exhibited by gynes was lower
than that of workers and was not dependent on their body size whereas the worker response increased with body size. The elevated
response is likely to reflect genetic stress caused by inbreeding, which in turn may compromise colony founding and longevity.
Indeed, eliciting a high immune response in itself might not be adaptive. Our results show that the regulation of the expression
of immunity differs between female castes despite their similar genetic make-up. 相似文献
15.
Multiple mating by social insect queens is a common phenomenon despite likely imposing substantial costs on queens. Mating with several males could be adaptive if a more genetically diverse worker force is better able to always handle any task sufficiently well, leading to a higher colony homeostasis. If multiple-paternity colonies are more homeostatic, then I propose that they may constitute less stressful rearing environments for developing sexuals. The effective stress levels experienced by developing males and queens may, however, also depend on colony productivity and sex-ratio preferences. I tested these hypotheses in the ant Lasius niger by examining whether the fluctuating asymmetry, means and coefficients of variation of a set of phenotypic traits in males and new queens co-varied with the effective number of patrilines per colony, colony productivity or sex ratio.Little support was found that the level of intra-colonial genetic diversity affects the variation of phenotype in sexuals. In 1 out of 2 years, however, females from colonies with high effective patriline numbers were heavier relative to their head width than were females from colonies with few patrilines. Support was found for the hypothesis that colonies with more resources may invest more in individual sexuals, and tendencies suggested that sexuals may receive better treatment when they belong to the majority sex of their colony.Communicated by J. Heinze 相似文献
16.
M. T. Henshaw J. E. Strassmann D. C. Queller 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2000,48(6):478-483
When cooperation is based on shared genetic interests, as in most social insect colonies, mechanisms which increase the genetic
similarity of group members may help to maintain sociality. Such mechanisms can be especially important in colonies with many
queens because within-colony relatedness drops quickly as queen number increases. Using microsatellite markers, we examined
the Old World, multiple-queen, swarm-founding wasp Polybioides tabidus which belongs to the ropalidiine tribe, and found that relatedness among the workers was four times higher than what would
be expected based on queen number alone. Relatedness was elevated by a pattern of queen production known as cyclical oligogyny,
under which, queen number varies, and daughter queens are produced only after the number of old queens has reduced to one
or a very few. As a result, the queens are highly related, often as full sisters, elevating relatedness among their progeny,
the workers. This pattern of queen production is driven by collective worker control of the sex ratios. Workers are three
times more highly related to females than to males in colonies with a single queen while they are more equally related to
males and females in colonies with more queens. As a result of this difference, workers will prefer to produce new queens
in colonies with a single queen and males in colonies with many queens. Cyclical oligogyny has also evolved independently
in another group of swarm-founding wasps, the Neotropical epiponine wasps, suggesting that collective worker control of sex
ratios is widespread in polistine wasps.
Received: 22 May 2000 / Revised: 24 August 2000 / Accepted: 4 September 2000 相似文献
17.
C. Tate Holbrook Christoph-Peter Strehl Robert A. Johnson Jürgen Gadau 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2007,62(2):229-236
The evolution of polyandry is a central problem in the study of insect mating systems, and both material and genetic benefits
have been proposed to offset the presumed costs of multiple mating. Although most eusocial Hymenoptera queens mate with just
one or occasionally two males, high levels of polyandry are exhibited by several taxa, including seed-harvester ants of the
genus Pogonomyrmex. Previous studies of queen mating frequency in Pogonomyrmex have focused on monogynous (one queen per colony) species in the subgenus Pogonomyrmex. We performed a genetic mother–offspring analysis of mating frequency in Pogonomyrmex (Ephebomyrmex) pima, a queen-dimorphic species with dealate and intermorph queens that differ in colony structure (intermorph colonies contain
multiple queens). Our results demonstrate that both dealate and intermorph queens of P. (E.) pima are typically single maters, unlike their congeners analyzed thus far. Polyandry appears to be a derived trait in Pogonomyrmex, but comparative tests between P. (E.) pima queen morphs and across the genus provide no evidence that it evolved as an adaptation to increase genetic diversity within
colonies or to obtain more sperm, respectively. 相似文献
18.
There has now been an abundance of research conducted to explore genetic bases that underlie learning performance in the honey bee (Apis mellifera). This work has progressed to the point where studies now seek to relate genetic traits that underlie learning ability to learning in field-based foraging problems faced by workers. Accordingly, the focus of our research is to explore the correlation between laboratory-based performance using an established learning paradigm and field-based foraging behavior. To evaluate learning ability, selected lines were established by evaluating queens and drones in a proboscis extension reflex (PER) conditioning procedure to measure learning in a laboratory paradigm—latent inhibition (LI). Hybrid queens were then produced from our lines selected for high and low levels of LI and inseminated with semen from many drones chosen at random. The genetically diverse worker progeny were then evaluated for expression of LI and for preference of pollen and/or nectar during foraging. Foragers from several different queens, and which had resulted from fertilization by any of several different drone fathers, were collected as they returned from foraging flights and analyzed for pollen and nectar contents. They were subsequently evaluated for expression of LI. Our research revealed that pollen foragers exhibited stronger learning, both in the presence (excitatory conditioning) and absence (LI) of reinforcement. The heightened overall learning ability demonstrated by pollen foragers suggests that pollen foragers are in general more sensitive to a large number of environmental stimuli. This mechanism could contribute toward explanations of colony-level regulation of foraging patterns among workers.Communicated by R. Page 相似文献
19.
Sean O’Donnell 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》1996,38(2):83-88
Genetic variability within insect societies may provide a mechanism for increasing behavioral diversity among workers, thereby
augmenting colony efficiency or flexibility. In order to assess the possibility that division of labor has a genetic component
in the eusocial wasp Polybia aequatorialis, I asked whether the genotypes of workers within colonies correlated with behavioral specialization. Workers specialized
by foraging for one of the four materials (wood pulp, insect prey, nectar, or water) gathered by their colonies. I collected
foragers on 2 days from each of three colonies and identified the material the foragers were carrying when collected. I produced
random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers from the genomic DNA of these foragers and estimated genotypic similarity
of foragers based on sharing of variable RAPD marker bands. Contingency tests on 20 variable loci per colony showed statistically
significant (P <0.05) biases in RAPD marker frequencies among forager types in the three colonies. Patterns of association of RAPD marker
bands with specializations were constant in two colonies, but changed between collection days in one colony. RAPD marker biases
suggest that division of labor among workers includes a genetic component in P. aequatorialis. Colony-level selection on variation in division of labor is a possible factor favoring the evolutionary maintenance of high
genotypic variability (low relatedness) in epiponine wasp colonies and in other eusocial insects.
Received: 18 July 1995/Accepted after revision: 1 October 1995 相似文献
20.
Brian R. Johnson 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2005,58(3):219-226
Caste theory predicts that social insect colonies are organized into stable groups of workers specialized on particular task sets. Alternative concepts of organization of work suggest that colonies are composed of extremely flexible workers able to perform any task as demand necessitates. I explored the flexibility of workers in temporal castes of the honey bee Apis mellifera by determining the ability of colonies to reorganize labor after a major demographic disturbance. I evaluated the flexibility of temporal castes by comparing the foraging rates of colonies having just lost their foragers with colonies having also lost their foragers but having been given a week to reorganize. The population sizes and contents of the colonies in each group were equalized and foraging rates were recorded for one week. Colonies given a weeks initial recovery time after the loss of their foragers were found to forage at significantly higher rates than those colonies given no initial recovery time. This result was consistent for nectar and pollen foraging. These results suggest that honeybee workers lack sufficient flexibility to reorganize labor without compromising foraging. This finding is consistent with the caste concept model of organization of work in insect societies. 相似文献