Colony-level selection effects on individual and colony foraging task performance in honeybees, Apis mellifera L. |
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Authors: | J H Fewell RE Page Jr |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Biology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-1501, USA e-mail: j.fewell@asu.edu Tel.: +1-602-9656539, Fax: +1-602-9652519, US;(2) Department of Entomology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA, US |
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Abstract: | In honeybees, as in other highly eusocial species, tasks are performed by individual workers, but selection for worker task
phenotypes occurs at the colony level. We investigated the effect of colony-level selection for pollen storage levels on the
foraging behavior of individual honeybee foragers to determine (1) the relationship between genotype and phenotypic expression
of foraging traits at the individual level and (2) how genetically based variation in worker task phenotype is integrated
into colony task organization. We placed workers from lines selected at the colony level for high or low pollen stores together
with hybrid workers into a common hive environment with controlled access to resources. Workers from the selected lines showed
reciprocal variation in pollen and nectar collection. High-pollen-line foragers collected pollen preferentially, and low-
pollen-line workers collected nectar, indicating that the two tasks covary genetically. Hybrid workers were not intermediate
in phenotype, but instead showed directional dominance for nectar collection. We monitored the responses of workers from the
selected strains to changes in internal (colony) and external (resource) stimulus levels for pollen foraging to measure the
interaction between genotypic variation in foraging behavior and stimulus environment. Under low-stimulus conditions, the
foraging group was over-represented by high-pollen-line workers. However, the evenness in distribution of the focal genetic
groups increased as foraging stimuli increased. These data are consistent with a model where task choice is a consequence
of genetically based response thresholds, and where genotypic diversity allows colony flexibility by providing a range of
stimulus thresholds.
Received: 3 May 1999 / Received in revised form: 22 December 1999 / Accepted: 23 January 2000 |
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Keywords: | Division of labor Task performance Selection Pollen foraging Honeybees |
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