Maternal Age Effects on Embryo Mortality and Juvenile Development of Offspring in the Honey Bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

Abstract

To date, no information is available concerning the impact of maternal age on offspring in long-lived social Hymenoptera. We have examined the influence of maternal age on embryo mortality and juvenile growth in offspring in 29 freshly mated (Y0), 29 1-yr-old (Y1), and 18 2-yr-old (Y2) queen honey bees, Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Embryo mortality increased significant with maternal age (Y0 = 9.1%, Y1 = 12.5%, and Y2 = 30.7%). Egg size declined significantly with queen age, did not affect embryo mortality, but did influence embryo size within the egg. (r = 0.54–0.98). Embryo size until hatching, observed under standardized in vitro conditions, was significantly affected by the age of the mother. Maternal age also significantly influenced larval size at an early stage (day 1 ) but not during later larval growth. Compensatory growth and nonrandom sampling attributable to higher mortality, especially in Y2 offspring, may explain the smaller impact of maternal age in the later larval stage. Embryo mortality was extremely high (55.7%) in the offspring of Y2 queens during the experiments on embryo growth, which required a frequent transfer and observation of the embryos outside the incubator. The stronger response of juvenile stages from older mothers to this manipulation indicates that they are likely to be much more sensitive to stress than offspring from younger mothers.

The influence of social structure on brood survival and development in a socially polymorphic ant: insights from a cross‐fostering experiment

“…In line with this hypothesis, eggs laid by monogynous queens were significantly smaller than eggs from polygynous queens (Meunier & Chapuisat, ). Second, polygynous queens might lay on average more viable eggs if polygynous queens tend to be younger and egg viability decreases with queen age, as has been shown in honeybees (Al‐Lawati & Bienefeld, ). Third, monogynous queens might produce a higher proportion of trophic eggs, because these additional nutrient sources would benefit only their own offspring.…”

Terminal Investment: Individual Reproduction of Ant Queens Increases with Age

“…However, re-analysis of an earlier data set, in which worker number per colony was not kept constant [21], shows that the total number of sexuals produced by queens mated with wingless males is strongly positively correlated with life span (n  =  50, total number of sexuals produced, r S  =  0.591, p < 0.0001; female sexuals, r S  =  0.499, p < 0.0003; winged males, r S  =  0.509, p < 0.0002; wingless males, r S  =  0.568, p < 0.0001). Assuming that embryo mortality does not change drastically with queen age (but see [16]), it is therefore likely that higher queen productivity would also have resulted in a higher number of sexuals in our study if eggs had been allowed to develop.…”

Bidirectional Shifts in Colony Queen Number in a Socially Polymorphic Ant Population

“…Intrinsic properties of the colonies could also trigger a change in social structure. For example, workers in monogynous colonies headed by an old queen may be increasingly likely to accept a new queen (particularly a relative) if their own queen is producing fewer viable eggs (Al‐Lawati and Bienefeld 2009). In the past, we have detected a few colonies that were headed by two or three related queens, but otherwise exhibited properties of monogynous colonies (Schwander et al 2005), which would be consistent with this hypothesis.…”