Policing is more effective against eggs of non-natal versus natal workers at early colony stages in a bumblebee
Policing is more effective against eggs of non-natal versus natal workers at early colony stages in a bumblebee
复制标题
DOI：
10.1111/eth.13378
复制
发表时间：
2023-05-05
期刊：
影响因子：
1.7
通讯作者：
Bourke，Andrew F. G.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Holland，Jacob G.;Zanette，Lorenzo R. S.;Bourke，Andrew F. G.
真社会性昆虫群体容易受到产卵工人的剥削，这些工人要么是纳塔尔的生殖工人，要么是非纳塔尔的生殖“漂流”工人（种内社会寄生虫）。工蜂产卵对殖民地来说是潜在的成本，但蚁后和工蜂可以通过吃蛋来抵消成本（蚁后或工蜂监管）。大黄蜂群体表现出纳塔尔和非纳塔尔工人的产卵：纳塔尔工人集体产卵更多，但只有在殖民地周期的特定点，“竞争点”之后才这样做，而非纳塔尔工人可能在整个殖民地周期中产卵。这些特征创造了一个特殊的机会来调查对工人产蛋的监管是否依赖于环境（即取决于鸡蛋的工人来源和/或菌落阶段）。我们将含有纳塔尔或非纳塔尔工蜂产下的卵的人工卵细胞引入熊蜂Bombus terrestris的群体中，在它们的竞争点之前和之后，观察引入的卵细胞和卵的命运。在这两个殖民地阶段，大多数引进的卵细胞和鸡蛋被警察，表明警察没有激活后，只有竞争点。然而，仅在赛前点阶段，20小时后非纳塔尔工人的卵子比例（15%）比纳塔尔工人的卵子比例（24%）更小。在殖民地周期早期对非纳塔尔工蜂的卵进行更有效的监管可能代表了对周期中所有工蜂产下的卵通常与纳塔尔工蜂地无关的阶段的适应性、背景依赖性反应。
Eusocial insect colonies are vulnerable to exploitation by egg‐laying workers arising either as natal reproductive workers or as non‐natal reproductive ‘drifting’ workers (intraspecific social parasites). Worker egg‐laying is potentially costly to the colony, but queens and workers can counter its costs via egg eating (queen or worker policing). Bumblebee colonies exhibit egg laying by both natal and non‐natal workers: natal workers collectively lay more eggs but do so only after a specific point in the colony cycle, the ‘competition point’, whereas non‐natal workers potentially lay eggs throughout the colony cycle. These features create a special opportunity to investigate whether policing of worker‐laid eggs is context‐dependent (i.e. depends on worker origin of eggs and/or colony stage). We introduced artificial egg cells containing eggs laid by either natal or non‐natal workers into colonies of the bumblebeeBombus terrestrisboth before and after their competition points and observed the fate of introduced egg cells and eggs. In both colony stages, the majority of introduced egg cells and eggs were policed, demonstrating that policing was not activated only after the competition point. However, in the pre‐competition point stage alone, a smaller proportion of non‐natal workers' eggs (15%) remained after 20 h compared to the proportion of natal workers' eggs remaining (24%). More effective policing of non‐natal workers' eggs early in the colony cycle potentially represents an adaptive, context‐dependent response to the stage in the cycle when all worker‐laid eggs are normally unrelated to the natal colony.