Evolution and mechanisms of long life and high fertility in queen honey bees

Remolina, Silvia C.; Hughes, Kimberly A.

doi:10.1007/s11357-008-9061-4

Cited by 108 publications

(78 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…European bee workers live approximately 6 weeks in the summer and up to 6 months in the winter. This indicates that environmental factors affect worker longevity (Seeley 1995;Remolina and Hughes 2008). Even old worker bees can display normal olfactory and tactile acquisition and discrimination, although they have a slightly impaired long-term olfactory memory (Behrends and Scheiner 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Increased brood viability and longer lifespan of honeybees selected for propolis production

et al. 2013

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-Propolis has been proposed to affect honeybee health. To test this hypothesis, we initially evaluated propolis production in 36 honeybee colonies. The three highest (HP) and three lowest propolis-producing (LP) colonies had mean yields of 16.0 and 0.64 g, respectively. Queens and drones from these parental colonies were crossed by artificial insemination to produce five colonies each of the following crosses: HP♀×HP♂, HP♀× LP♂, LP♀×HP♂, and LP♀×LP♂. Colonies headed by HP♀×HP♂ queens produced 34 times more propolis than those headed by LP♀×LP♂ queens and five times more than those from the other two crosses. Newly emerged bees were marked to measure longevity, and egg and brood counts were made to determine brood survival rates. The colonies with queens derived from crosses between high-propolis-producing colonies had significantly higher brood viability and greater worker bee longevity. We conclude that colonies that collect more propolis are healthier and have longer-living bees.controlled mating / propolis / brood viability / longevity

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Increased brood viability and longer lifespan of honeybees selected for propolis production

et al. 2013

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“…However, many social insects show a converse effect. In social ant, termite and some bee species, fecundity is associated with long life relative to non-reproductive colony members (Remolina & Hughes 2008).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Insect queens have more resources available to them owing to provisioning from non-reproductive colony members (Remolina & Hughes 2008). Therefore it has been proposed that it is unnecessary for queens to divert resources from selfmaintenance, and thus they are not exposed to physiological costs that could impair survival (Remolina & Hughes 2008).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Therefore it has been proposed that it is unnecessary for queens to divert resources from selfmaintenance, and thus they are not exposed to physiological costs that could impair survival (Remolina & Hughes 2008). Non-reproductive Damaraland mole-rats forage for food and maintain the burrow system, allowing the breeding individuals to expend their energy almost exclusively on reproduction (Bennett 1990), and given that the queen and dominant male are the largest individuals in a colony (Bennett & Jarvis 1988;Lovegrove 1988), adequate food resources are most likely available to support the energy and nutrient demands of offspring production.…”

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confidence: 99%

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The long-lived queen: reproduction and longevity in female eusocial Damaraland mole-rats (Fukomys damarensis)

2013

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The inverse relationship between reproduction and lifespan is one of the main concepts of life history theory. This association has been observed in most taxa, although exceptions have been found in which a breeding female outlives her non-reproductive cohorts. This relationship is well known in social insects, and it has recently come to light that reproductive females of certain social mole-rat species also exhibit extended lifespans relative to non-breeders. We analysed mark-recapture data over 13 years in 12 colonies of Damaraland mole-rats (Fukomys damarensis) to assess if colony queens lived longer than non-reproductive adult females. Queens were recaptured up to 8.5 years after initial capture (X = 6.2 years); significantly longer than non-reproductive females (X = 1.3 years), suggesting that a colony queen lives longer than her non-reproductive subordinates. This difference may be attributed to both physiological and social factors which may relax reproductive costs in queens.

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“…Comparatively, little is known about influences on the life expectancy of honeybee queens but several studies have compared the long-lived queens with short-lived workers to identify the mechanisms that underlie this pronounced aging plasticity (Remolina and Hughes 2008). Molecular differences have been found in patterns of gene expression related to oxidative stress (Corona et al 2005), mitochondrial maintenance (Aamodt 2009), the yolk protein and antioxidant vitellogenin (Corona et al 2007), and lipid composition (Haddad et al 2007).…”

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confidence: 99%

Reproduction, social behavior, and aging trajectories in honeybee workers

Dixon

Kuster

Rueppell

2013

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While a negative correlation between reproduction and life span is commonly observed, specialized reproductive individuals outlive their non-reproductive nestmates in all eusocial species, including the honeybee, Apis mellifera (L). The consequences of reproduction for individual life expectancy can be studied directly by comparing reproductive and non-reproductive workers. We quantified the life span consequences of reproduction in honeybee workers by removal of the queen to trigger worker reproduction. Furthermore, we observed the social behavior of large cohorts of workers under experimental and control conditions to test for associations with individual life expectancy. Worker life expectancy was moderately increased by queen removal. Queenless colonies contained a few long-lived workers, and oviposition behavior was associated with a strong reduction in mortality risk, indicating that a reproductive role confers a significant survival advantage. This finding is further substantiated by an association between brood care behavior and worker longevity that depends on the social environment. In contrast, other in-hive activities, such as fanning, trophallaxis, and allogrooming did not consistently affect worker life expectancy. The influence of foraging varied among replicates. An earlier age of transitioning from in-hive tasks to outside foraging was always associated with shorter life spans, in accordance with previous studies. In sum, our studies quantify how individual mortality is affected by particular social roles and colony environments and demonstrate interactions between the two. The exceptional, positive association between reproduction and longevity in honeybees extends to within-caste plasticity, which may be exploited for mechanistic studies.

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Evolution and mechanisms of long life and high fertility in queen honey bees

Cited by 108 publications

References 59 publications

Increased brood viability and longer lifespan of honeybees selected for propolis production

Increased brood viability and longer lifespan of honeybees selected for propolis production

The long-lived queen: reproduction and longevity in female eusocial Damaraland mole-rats (Fukomys damarensis)

Reproduction, social behavior, and aging trajectories in honeybee workers

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