Honey bees perform fine-scale detailing that continuously reduces comb area after nest expansion
Honey bees perform fine-scale detailing that continuously reduces comb area after nest expansion
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DOI：
10.1007/s00040-023-00933-4
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发表时间：
2023-11-01
期刊：
影响因子：
1.3
通讯作者：
Smith，M. L.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Bailey，C. S.;Marting，P. R.;Smith，M. L.
蜜蜂是著名的建筑师。工蜂用昂贵的蜡分泌物来筑巢，相对较快地达到成熟、看似稳定的状态。在巢扩展完成后，工人们不会完全拆除梳子并重新开始，但他们可能会做一些细微的改变，比如添加，移除和重新定位现有的蜡。以前的工作主要集中在巢的形成和巢的扩展，但这里我们关注的是已经达到稳定状态的成熟巢。为了研究梳子形状随时间的细微变化，我们跟踪了6个蜂群，从筑巢到成熟（211天），每1-2周拍摄一次梳子。通过对一段时间内的梳子图像进行对齐，我们发现工蚁不断地从梳子边缘去除蜡，从而随着时间的推移减少了总巢面积。所有6个菌落都修剪了梳子的边缘，98.3%的梳子减少了（n = 59）。一旦工蜂停止扩大巢穴，蜂巢就开始减少，并在整个实验过程中持续下去。梳子减少的程度与它在巢内的位置、梳子的周长或梳子的面积无关。这是可能的，工人使用这种去除蜡作为储备蜡源，虽然这仍然未经测试。这些结果表明，超有机体巢不是静态的；工蚁不断地与它们的巢穴互动，甚至在巢穴扩张完成后也会改变它。
Honey bees are renowned architects. The workers use expensive wax secretions to build their nests, which reach a mature, seemingly steady state, relatively quickly. After nest expansion is complete, workers do not tear down combs completely and begin anew, but there is the possibility they may make subtle changes like adding, removing, and repositioning existing wax. Previous work has focused on nest initiation and nest expansion, but here we focus on mature nests that have reached a steady-state. To investigate subtle changes to comb shape over time, we tracked six colonies from nest initiation through maturity (211 days), photographing their combs every 1–2 weeks. By aligning comb images over time, we show that workers continuously remove wax from the comb edges, thereby reducing total nest area over time. All six colonies trimmed comb edges, and 98.3% of combs were reduced (n = 59). Comb reduction began once workers stopped expanding their nests and continued throughout the experiment. The extent to which a comb was reduced did not correlate with its position within the nest, comb perimeter, or comb area. It is possible that workers use this removed wax as a reserve wax source, though this remains untested. These results show that the superorganism nest is not static; workers are constantly interacting with their nest, and altering it, even after nest expansion is complete.