Body size and reproductive success of drones (Apis mellifera L)

Berg, Stefan; Koeniger, N.; Koeniger, Gudrun; Fuchs, Stefan

doi:10.1051/apido:19970611

Cited by 67 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 11 publications

(13 reference statements)

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“…In contrast, no social regulation of drone flight initiation has been demonstrated. Drones should be selected for rapid growth and maturation to maximize their mating chances (Page 1981;Currie 1987;Berg et al 1997). Temporal division of labour is a key outcome of the behavioural evolution of honeybee workers, but its optimization may be impeded through counteracting selection on correlated drone traits.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These findings suggest that the onset of flight in drones has been under strong, unimodal selection that depleted genetic variability and reduced phenotypic variation (canalization: Debat & David 2001). A probable scenario is strong directional selection for fast maturation because honeybee reproduction is protandrous (Page 1981) and drones should be selected to leave the colony as early as possible to increase their mating chances (Page 1981;Currie 1987;Berg et al 1997). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Male behavioural maturation rate responds to selection on pollen hoarding in honeybees

2006

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Division of labour in social insect colonies relies on behavioural functional differentiation (specialization) of individuals with similar genomes. However, individual behavioural traits do not evolve independently of each other (behavioural syndromes). A prime example is the suite of behavioural differences in honeybee workers that has evolved in response to bidirectional selection on pollen hoarding of honeybee colonies (pollen-hoarding syndrome). More generally, these differences reflect functional differentiation between nectar and pollen foragers. We demonstrate here that this pollen-hoarding syndrome extends to drones. Similar to what has been shown in workers, drones from the high-pollen-hoarding strain had a higher locomotion activity after emergence, and they initiated flight earlier than did males derived from the low-pollen-hoarding strain, with hybrids intermediate. However, these two behavioural traits were unlinked at the individual level. We also found that social environment (the colony) affects the age at which drones initiate flight. The indirect selection responses of male behaviour suggest that male and worker evolution are not independent and may constrain each other's evolution. Furthermore, we identified three distinct peaks in the probability of flight initiation over the course of the experiment and a decreased phenotypic variability in the 'hybrid' males, contrary to quantitative genetic expectations.Social insects owe much of their evolutionary success to the coordinated action of behaviourally specialized members of their colonies (Oster & Wilson 1978; Winston 1987;Hölldobler & Wilson 1990). Division of labour is a hallmark of social evolution (Beshers & Fewell 2001), and among honeybee workers, it is mainly determined by age and genetic effects (Winston 1987). To promote individual specialization, the response thresholds to different task stimuli should vary independently among individuals (Beshers & Fewell 2001). This seems not to be the case: honeybees show well-established behavioural differences among races that extend to multiple behavioural phenotypes, as well as to morphology and life history (Winston 1987). Similar multiple behavioural phenotypes in honeybees are also correlated at the individual level (Page & Erber 2002;Pankiw 2003;Scheiner et al. 2004), indicating their evolution as behavioural syndromes (array of correlated behavioural characteristics: Sih et al. 2004). Linked sets of behavioural traits may have arisen through adaptation in certain contexts (Amdam et al. 2004), but the correlation among behavioural traits may constrain the division of labour in social insects, and behavioural optimization in general (Price & Langen 1992;Sih et al. 2004 One of the best-studied examples of behavioural syndromes in insects is the behavioural differentiation among workers of two strains of honeybees that have been bidirectionally selected over multiple generations for different amounts of pollen stored in their nests . Many different aspects of foraging behaviour Wadd...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Male behavioural maturation rate responds to selection on pollen hoarding in honeybees

2006

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“…The question arises: what are the benefits of large drone production for the colony? Using cordovan mutant honeybees Berg et al (1997) showed that small drones reared in worker cells have a reproductive disadvantage compared to the normally sized drones. In spite of these differences, potential proximate mechanisms for the different reproductive success remained unidentified.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Neither flight speed, flight height, nor sperm numbers per drone were significantly different between large and small drones in Berg and Koeniger's (1990) study. Berg et al (1997) suggested that large drones might be more competitive in accessing the queen. However, in a subsequent study Jarolimek and Otis (2001) reported a significant correlation between drone weight and sperm number indicating that sperm number might nonetheless be an important factor for the reduced reproductive success of small drones.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sperm numbers in drone honeybees (Apis mellifera) depend on body size

et al. 2003

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-The effect of drone honeybee's body size on semen production was evaluated. In the same colonies, drones were either reared in drone cells (large drones) or in worker cells (small drones). Wing lengths (size indicator) and sperm numbers of small and large drones were compared. Small drones (~13% reduced wing size) produce significantly fewer spermatozoa (7.5 ± 0.5 million) than normally sized drones (11.9 ± 1.0 million spermatozoa). There is a significant positive correlation between sperm number and wing size within the small drones and in both groups combined. In the large group alone no correlation was found. The rearing investment per spermatozoon is lower for small than for normally sized drones because small drones produce more spermatozoa in relation to their body weight. Since colonies usually produce large drones, the enhanced investment must be outweighed by a mating advantage of large drones.Apis mellifera / spermatozoa / male size / small drone / large drone / reproductive success

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“…The male reproductive success of a whole colony is not determined by the plain number of males produced in a colony (up to 5000 drones per colony and mating season, Winston, 1987). Drones of one colony may out-compete others in mating efficiency (Berg et al, 1997). The picture is further complicated because the queens store a semen supply of many drones in their spermatheca (Palmer & Oldroyd, 2000) and the contribution of individual drones to this semen pool is not equal (Moritz, 1986), resulting in considerable differences in patriline frequencies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Male fitness of honeybee colonies (Apis mellifera L.)

Kraus

Neumann

Scharpenberg

et al. 2003

Journal of Evolutionary Biology

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Honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) have an extreme polyandrous mating system. Worker offspring of 19 naturally mated queens was genotyped with DNA microsatellites, to estimate male reproductive success of 16 drone producing colonies. This allowed for estimating the male mating success on both the colony level and the level of individual drones. The experiment was conducted in a closed population on an isolated island to exclude interferences of drones from unknown colonies. Although all colonies had produced similar numbers of drones, differences among the colonies in male mating success exceeded one order of magnitude. These differences were enhanced by the siring success of individual drones within the offspring of mated queens. The siring success of individual drones was correlated with the mating frequency at the colony level. Thus more successful colonies not only produced drones with a higher chance of mating, but also with a significantly higher proportion of offspring sired than drones from less successful colonies. Although the life cycle of honeybee colonies is very female centred, the male reproductive success appears to be a major driver of natural selection in honeybees.

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Body size and reproductive success of drones (Apis mellifera L)

Cited by 67 publications

References 11 publications

Male behavioural maturation rate responds to selection on pollen hoarding in honeybees

Male behavioural maturation rate responds to selection on pollen hoarding in honeybees

Sperm numbers in drone honeybees (Apis mellifera) depend on body size

Male fitness of honeybee colonies (Apis mellifera L.)

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