The cost of defense in social insects: insights from the honey bee

Rivera-Marchand, Bert; Giray, Tuğrul; Guzmán-Novoa, Ernesto

doi:10.1111/j.1570-7458.2008.00747.x

Cited by 35 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…mellifera is unclear. Natural hybridization between EHB and AHB has been occurring over the last 17 years, and currently, based on mtDNA and morphology, Puerto Rico has a uniform geographic distribution of gAHB, both feral and domestic [14,15]. Previous studies on the genetic structure of honey bees in Puerto Rico relied on the use of morphology, mtDNA markers, and single locus nuclear RFLP markers [14,15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Natural hybridization between EHB and AHB has been occurring over the last 17 years, and currently, based on mtDNA and morphology, Puerto Rico has a uniform geographic distribution of gAHB, both feral and domestic [14,15]. Previous studies on the genetic structure of honey bees in Puerto Rico relied on the use of morphology, mtDNA markers, and single locus nuclear RFLP markers [14,15]. Other approaches used worldwide to explore the population structure and hybridization zones of honey bees include morphology [13,23] and different molecular genetic markers to study genetic variation i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Genetic structure of the gentle Africanized honey bee population (gAHB) in Puerto Rico

et al. 2013

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BackgroundThe Africanized honey bee is one of the most spectacular invasions in the Americas. African bees escaped from apiaries in Brazil in 1956, spread over Americas and by 1994 they were reported in Puerto Rico. In contrast to other places, the oceanic island conditions in Puerto Rico may mean a single introduction and different dynamics of the resident European and new-coming Africanized bees.To examine the genetic variation of honey bee feral populations and colonies from different locations in Puerto Rico, we used eight known polymorphic microsatellite loci.ResultsIn Puerto Rico, gAHB population does not show any genetic structure (Fst = 0.0783), and is best described as one honey bee population, product of hybridization of AHB and EHB. The genetic variability in this Africanized population was similar to that reported in studies from Texas. We observed that European private allele frequencies are high in all but one locus. This contrasts with mainland Africanized populations, where European allele frequencies are diminished. Two loci with European private alleles, one on Linkage Group 7, known to carry two known defensiveness Quantitative Trait Loci (QTLs), and the other on Linkage Group 1, known to carry three functionally studied genes and 11 candidate genes associated with Varroa resistance mechanisms were respectively, significantly greater or lower in European allele frequency than the other loci with European private alleles.ConclusionsGenetic structure of Puerto Rico gAHB differs from mainland AHB populations, probably representing evolutionary processes on the island.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic structure of the gentle Africanized honey bee population (gAHB) in Puerto Rico

et al. 2013

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“…Thus, defending this nest (and the main foraging paths emanating from it; Lecomte, 1961) is of prime importance. Yet, with sociality comes the challenge of coordinating the actions of thousands of bees to achieve an efficient response to potential threats, without depleting the colony of too much of its workforce (Rivera-Marchand et al, 2008). The aims of this Review are to: (1) describe how honeybees [of European lineages; see Breed et al (2004b) for information about Africanized bees] defend their colony at an individual and a collective level, (2) highlight the fine-tuning of this behaviour and (3) review our current knowledge about the neurobiology of this response.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The defensive response of the honeybee Apis mellifera

Nouvian

Reinhard

Giurfa

2016

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Honeybees (Apis mellifera) are insects living in colonies with a complex social organization. Their nest contains food stores in the form of honey and pollen, as well as the brood, the queen and the bees themselves. These resources have to be defended against a wide range of predators and parasites, a task that is performed by specialized workers, called guard bees. Guards tune their response to both the nature of the threat and the environmental conditions, in order to achieve an efficient trade-off between defence and loss of foraging workforce. By releasing alarm pheromones, they are able to recruit other bees to help them handle large predators. These chemicals trigger both rapid and longer-term changes in the behaviour of nearby bees, thus priming them for defence. Here, we review our current understanding on how this sequence of events is performed and regulated depending on a variety of factors that are both extrinsic and intrinsic to the colony. We present our current knowledge on the neural bases of honeybee aggression and highlight research avenues for future studies in this area. We present a brief overview of the techniques used to study honeybee aggression, and discuss how these could be used to gain further insights into the mechanisms of this behaviour.

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“…Despite their potential contribution to colony survival, the relatively high costs associated with soldier production may result in the production of fewer workers, which take care of the soldiers in addition to their other functions like foraging, colony maintenance etc. (Rivera-Marchand et al 2008). Thus, the proportion of soldiers or guards must be optimized 5 in response to the defensive demands of the surrounding environment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hidden aggression in termite workers: plastic defensive behaviour dependent upon social context

Ishikawa

Miura

2012

Animal Behaviour

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SummarySocial insect colonies are self-organized systems that respond to changes in environmental conditions by altering the relative proportions of certain castes or individuals engaged in specific tasks.While termites are known to regulate the ratio of morphologically specialized soldiers in response to the proportion of nestmate castes, soldier-differentiation process requires a relatively long time to be accomplished. Consequently, other plastic and flexible mechanisms are considered to be employed as one of the various defensive strategies in termites. In this study, the defensive behaviours of soldiers, pseudergates (workers) and reproductives of the damp-wood termite Hodotermopsis sjostedti were quantified. When individuals of the caste were exposed to an intruder, soldiers exhibited the most vigorous defensive behaviour, followed by pseudergates and then reproductives.While the aggression levels of soldiers and reproductives were independent of the accompanying castes, pseudergate aggression was more plastic and depended on the other castes present. When paired with reproductives, pseudergates exhibited high levels of aggression toward enemies. However, pseudergate aggression levels remained low when they were paired with soldiers, suggesting that pseudergates moderated their defensive behaviour depending on social context. Plasticity with respect to social behaviours may facilitate rapid and 3 flexible responses required for colony defence.

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The cost of defense in social insects: insights from the honey bee

Cited by 35 publications

References 60 publications

Genetic structure of the gentle Africanized honey bee population (gAHB) in Puerto Rico

Genetic structure of the gentle Africanized honey bee population (gAHB) in Puerto Rico

The defensive response of the honeybee Apis mellifera

Hidden aggression in termite workers: plastic defensive behaviour dependent upon social context

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