Larvae influence thermoregulatory fanning behavior in honeybees (Apis mellifera L.)

Cook, Chelsea N.; Durzi, S.; Scheckel, Kelsey J.; Breed, Michael D.

doi:10.1007/s00040-016-0463-5

Cited by 15 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…A major function of thermal homeostasis in eusocial insect nests is enabling growth and development of temperaturesensitive altricial brood (Franks and Sendova-Franks 1992, Jones et al 2004, Penick and Tschinkel 2008, Becher et al 2009). Adult social insects often engage in brood-specific thermoregulation behaviors such as fanning or direct incubation (Heinrich 1975, Franks and Sendova-Franks 1992, Cook et al 2016). However, social insect nests are generally assumed to be tightly thermoregulated superorganisms with a narrow range of ideal internal temperatures (Jones and Oldroyd 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plastic collective endothermy in a complex animal society (army ant bivouacs: Eciton burchellii parvispinum)

et al. 2018

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Endothermic animals do not always have a single adaptive internal temperature; some species exhibit plastic homeostasis, adaptively allowing body temperature to drop when thermoregulatory costs are high. Like large-bodied endotherms, some animal societies exhibit collective thermal homeostasis. We tested for plasticity of thermoregulation in the self-assembled temporary nests (bivouacs) of army ants. We measured core bivouac temperatures under a range of environmental conditions and at different colony developmental (larval vs pupal brood) stages. Contrary to previous assertions, bivouacs were not perfect thermoregulators in all developmental stages. Instead, bivouacs functioned as superorganismal facultative endotherms, using a combination of site choice and context-dependent metabolic heating to adjust core temperatures across an elevational cline in ambient temperature. When ambient temperature was low, the magnitude of metabolic heating was dependent on colony developmental stage: pupal bivouacs were warmer than larval bivouacs. At cooler high elevations, bivouacs functioned like some endothermic animals that intermittently lower their body temperatures to conserve energy. Bivouacs potentially conserved energy by investing less metabolic heating in larval brood because the high costs of impaired worker development may require more stringent thermoregulation of pupae. Our data also suggest that site choice played an important role in bivouac cooling under high ambient temperatures at low elevations. Climate warming may expand upper elevational range limits of Eciton burchellii parvispinum, while reducing the availability of cool and moist bivouac sites at lower elevations, potentially leading to future low-elevation range contraction.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plastic collective endothermy in a complex animal society (army ant bivouacs: Eciton burchellii parvispinum)

et al. 2018

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“…Another mechanism to prevent overheating is the regulation of fanning activity (Lindauer 1954 ; Southwick 1985 ; Sudarsan et al 2012 ; Cook and Breed 2013 ; Egley and Breed 2013 ; Cook et al 2016 ). Fanning is one of the first behaviours bees start under heat stress (Lindauer 1954 ; Johnson 2002 ), comparable to bumblebees (Weidenmüller et al 2002 , Weidenmüller 2004 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In scenarios of future global warming, increased environmental temperatures are expected to challenge also honeybee colonies (Kovac et al 2014 ; Bordier et al 2017 ; Medina et al 2018 ; Kablau et al 2020 ; McAfee et al 2020 ). If the hive is in danger of being overheated the bees cool it by fanning (Southwick and Moritz 1987 ; Sudarsan et al 2012 ; Cook and Breed 2013 ; Egley and Breed 2013 ; Cook et al 2016 ), and they collect water to spread it on the combs (Lindauer 1954 ; Kühnholz and Seeley 1997 ). The supply with water is the task of water gatherers (Lindauer 1954 ; Kühnholz and Seeley 1997 ; Visscher et al 1996 ; Schmaranzer 2000 ; Kovac et al 2010 , 2018 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coping with the cold and fighting the heat: thermal homeostasis of a superorganism, the honeybee colony

et al. 2021

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The worldwide distribution of honeybees and their fast propagation to new areas rests on their ability to keep up optimal ‘tropical conditions’ in their brood nest both in the cold and in the heat. Honeybee colonies behave like ‘superorganisms’ where individuals work together to promote reproduction of the colony. Social cooperation has developed strongly in thermal homeostasis, which guarantees a fast and constant development of the brood. We here report on the cooperation of individuals in reaction to environmental variation to achieve thermal constancy of 34–36 °C. The measurement of body temperature together with bee density and in-hive microclimate showed that behaviours for hive heating or cooling are strongly interlaced and differ in their start values. When environmental temperature changes, heat production is adjusted both by regulation of bee density due to migration activity and by the degree of endothermy. Overheating of the brood is prevented by cooling with water droplets and increased fanning, which start already at moderate temperatures where heat production and bee density are still at an increased level. This interlaced change and onset of different thermoregulatory behaviours guarantees a graded adaptation of individual behaviour to stabilise the temperature of the brood.

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“…where k 0 is an inverse time scale of the order of a few seconds, and m controls the slope of the sigmoidal function (figure 2b), and is fit to approximately reproduce the variation in observed temperature thresholds [32] (see electronic supplementary material). Although recent studies of fanning behaviour in controlled laboratory settings suggest that the thermal response thresholds for fanning are affected by group size [32], the presence/absence of larvae [34] and heating rate [35], our minimal representation of the fanning response as a switch-like behaviour allows us to focus on the interaction with airflow and temperature. We note that the parameter m is the only behavioural parameter in our model and it controls the range over which organized ventilation can occur.…”

Section: Mathematical Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Collective ventilation in honeybee nests

Peters

Peleg

Mahadevan

2019

J. R. Soc. Interface.

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European honey bees (Apis mellifera) live in large congested nest cavities with a single opening that limits passive ventilation. When the local air temperature exceeds a threshold, the nests are actively ventilated by bees fanning their wings at the nest entrance. Here, we show that colonies with relatively large nest entrances use an emergent ventilation strategy where fanning bees self-organize to form groups, separating regions of continuous inflow and outflow. The observed spatio-temporal patterns correlate the air velocity and air temperature along the entrances to the distribution of fanning bees. A mathematical model that couples these variables to known fanning behaviour of individuals recapitulates their collective dynamics. Additionally, the model makes predictions about the temporal stability of the fanning group as a function of the temperature difference between the environment and the nest. Consistent with these predictions, we observe that the fanning groups drift, cling to the entrance boundaries, break-up and reform as the ambient temperature varies over a period of days. Overall, our study shows how honeybees use flow-mediated communication to self-organize into a steady state in fluctuating environments.

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Larvae influence thermoregulatory fanning behavior in honeybees (Apis mellifera L.)

Cited by 15 publications

References 47 publications

Plastic collective endothermy in a complex animal society (army ant bivouacs: Eciton burchellii parvispinum)

Plastic collective endothermy in a complex animal society (army ant bivouacs: Eciton burchellii parvispinum)

Coping with the cold and fighting the heat: thermal homeostasis of a superorganism, the honeybee colony

Collective ventilation in honeybee nests

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