Worker drift and egg dumping by queens in wild Bombus terrestris colonies

O’Connor, Stephanie; Park, Kirsty; Goulson, Dave

doi:10.1007/s00265-013-1481-1

Cited by 21 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 52 publications

(63 reference statements)

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“…About a third (32.5%) of the monitored drifters (n ¼ 40, see Experimental procedure) were seen laying eggs in host colonies thus confirming that at least some B. terrestris workers engage in reproduction after drifting in a foreign colony [5,9]. Egg-laying drifters mainly belonged to the Fþ worker group (figure 1d).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 57%

“…Such an open colony structure would have provided the ideal ground for the evolution of drifting for direct reproduction in fertile bumblebees. Whether the latter are not rejected because their high reproductive potential is not detected or whether they are recognized (see [42]) but tolerated (with the resulting fitness variation for the host colony still to be determined, see [9,18]) remains to be investigated. …”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Its annual colony life cycle consists of two contrasting phases with respect to intracolonial worker reproduction: some workers have activated ovaries in the early developmental stages of the colony ('social phase') but refrain from reproducing up to the end of the colony cycle ('competition phase') where they start to intensively compete with each other for male production [13][14][15][16][17]. Besides the well-studied occurrence of intracolonial reproduction, cases of heterocolonial reproduction by workers have been described [5,9]. However, little is known about the causative determinants of this type of reproduction.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Drifting behaviour as an alternative reproductive strategy for social insect workers

et al. 2013

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Restricted reproduction is traditionally posited as the defining feature of eusocial insect workers. The discovery of worker reproduction in foreign colonies challenges this view and suggests that workers' potential to pursue selfish interests may be higher than previously believed. However, whether such reproductive behaviour truly relies on a reproductive decision is still unknown. Workers' reproductive decisions thus need to be investigated to assess the extent of workers' reproductive options. Here, we show in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris that drifting is a distinct strategy by which fertile workers circumvent competition in their nest and reproduce in foreign colonies. By monitoring workers' movements between colonies, we show that drifting is a remarkably dynamic behaviour, widely expressed by both fertile and infertile workers. We demonstrate that a high fertility is, however, central in determining the propensity of workers to enter foreign colonies as well as their subsequent reproduction in host colonies. Moreover, our study shows that the drifting of fertile workers reflects complex decision-making processes associated with in-nest reproductive competition. This novel finding therefore adds to our modern conception of cooperation by showing the previously overlooked importance of alternative strategies which enable workers to assert their reproductive interests.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 57%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Drifting behaviour as an alternative reproductive strategy for social insect workers

et al. 2013

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“…). While this behaviour is rare in natural bumblebee colonies (O'Connor, Park & Goulson ), direct transmission via drifting could be highly relevant where artificial bumblebee colonies are used in close proximity to each other for pollination services.…”

Section: Exposure Of Novel Hosts To Virusesmentioning

confidence: 99%

REVIEW: Emerging viral disease risk to pollinating insects: ecological, evolutionary and anthropogenic factors

Manley

Boots

Wilfert

2015

Journal of Applied Ecology

156

159

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The potential for infectious pathogens to spillover and emerge from managed populations to wildlife communities is poorly understood, but ecological, evolutionary and anthropogenic factors are all likely to influence the initial exposure and subsequent infection, spread and impact of disease. Fast-evolving RNA viruses, known to cause severe colony losses in managed honeybee populations, deserve particular attention for their propensity to jump between host species and thus threaten ecologically and economically important wild pollinator communities. We review the literature on pollinator viruses to identify biological and anthropogenic drivers of disease emergence, highlight gaps in the literature, and discuss potential management strategies. We provide evidence that many wild pollinator species are exposed to viruses from commercial species, resulting in multiple spillover events. However, it is not clear whether species become infected as a result of spillover or whether transmission is occurring within these wild populations. Ecological traits of pollinating insects, such as overlapping ranges, niches and behaviours, clearly promote cross-species transmission of RNA viruses. Moreover, we conclude that the social behaviour and phylogenetic relatedness of social pollinators further facilitate within- and between-host transmission, leaving these species particularly vulnerable to emerging diseases. We argue that the commercial use of pollinators is a key driver of disease emergence in these beneficial insects and that this must be addressed by management and policy. Synthesis and applications. There are important knowledge gaps, ranging from disease distribution and prevalence, to pathogen life history and virulence, to the impacts of disease emergence, which need to be addressed as research priorities. It is clear that avoiding anthropogenic pathogen spillover is crucial to preventing and managing disease emergence in pollinators, with far-reaching effects on our food security, ecosystem services and biodiversity. We argue that it is crucial to prevent the introduction of diseased pollinators into natural environments, which can be achieved through improved monitoring and management practices.

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“…Spiteful behavior. Workers in their home nest create social heterosis, but in non-natal nests reduce social heterosis (and therefore group-level fitness) in relation to the magnitude of their social heterosis genotype (e.g., as in Bombus deuteronymus and B. terrestris where drifters may compete for reproduce rather than forage; Takahashi et al, 2010;O'Connor et al, 2013).…”

Section: Cheating and Strategic Behavior In Driftersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Go High or Go Low? Adaptive Evolution of High and Low Relatedness Societies in Social Hymenoptera

Nonacs

2017

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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Cooperative groups can increase fitness either by helping kin or interacting with unlike individuals to produce social heterosis. They cannot, however, simultaneously maximize both benefits. This tradeoff between nepotism and diversity is modeled using Hamilton's rule (rb-c > 0), by allowing benefit and cost to be dynamic functions of relatedness (i.e., social heterosis predicts b and c depend on r). Simulations show that evolutionary outcomes tend to maximize either nepotism (with high genetic relatedness), or social heterosis (with low relatedness) rather than produce an intermediate outcome. Although genetic diversity can arise through multiple mating, a second possible mechanism-the exchanging of individuals across groups-is similarly effective. Such worker "drifting" is common in many species of social Hymenoptera and may be a form of indirect reciprocity. Drifting individuals increase an unrelated group's productivity by enhancing its genetic diversity, with this effect being reciprocated by other unrelated drifters entering their natal group. The benefits from social heterosis and indirect reciprocity are robust against cheating and show that it is possible to evolve stable cooperation between individuals that are genetically distant or unrelated. As drifting becomes more prevalent colony boundaries may become weakly discriminated, which may predispose toward the evolution of unicoloniality in some species.

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Worker drift and egg dumping by queens in wild Bombus terrestris colonies

Cited by 21 publications

References 52 publications

Drifting behaviour as an alternative reproductive strategy for social insect workers

Drifting behaviour as an alternative reproductive strategy for social insect workers

REVIEW: Emerging viral disease risk to pollinating insects: ecological, evolutionary and anthropogenic factors

Go High or Go Low? Adaptive Evolution of High and Low Relatedness Societies in Social Hymenoptera

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