REU: Dance Language, Eusociality, and the Systematics of Apis and the Apidae

REU：舞蹈语言、真社会性以及蜜蜂和蜜蜂科的系统学

• 批准号: 8918932
• 负责人: Fred Dyer
• 金额: $ 24.4万
• 依托单位: Michigan State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 1990
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1990-05-01 至 1994-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=8918932&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: REU; Dance; Language; Eusociality; Systematics

Honey bees exhibit two complex social behaviors which have long fascinated human observers: the "dance language," a series of body movements whereby successful scout bees precisely communicate to their nestmates the locations of flowers as far away as 10 kilometers; and highly organized, perennial colonies. Little is known about how the behaviors we see in honey bees alive today emerged from the simpler capabilities of their solitary-living ancestors. Since behavior, unlike structure, is not fossilized, the historical sequences of changes cannot be observed directly. Instead, it must be inferred from comparisons of closely related living species. Since equivalent traits in related species can be assumed to have descended from a common ancestor, one can infer the characteristics of the ancestral trait, and the modifications that occurred during descent, from the similarities and differences seen among species now alive. There are 6-8 species of honey bees (genus Apis which all have dance languages, but which differ in the details of the dances. All the Apis species have advanced societies, but bees in other genera exhibit varying degrees of social organization. These patterns have already been used to formulate competing hypotheses about the evolution of these behaviors. Ambiguities remain because no set of independent traits has satisfactorily resolved the phylogenetic relationships among the honey bee species, and among the different bee genera. The present project will undertake the first comprehensive study of molecular variation among bees, though an analysis of sequences of nucleotides (subunits of the DNA molecule) in a gene found in all the species. Specimens will be collected in several locations in Asia and Central America, the gene extracted and sequenced, and the phylogenetic relationships among the species determined from variations in the sequences. At the same time, further detailed studies will be done to obtain a clearer picture of the pattern of behavioral variation among the species. Together these approaches should lead to more satisfying answers to two questions: how the dance was assembled from a set of simpler behaviors, and whether advanced sociality originated uniquely in honey bees or was derived from an ancestor which also gave rise to other highly social bees. Apart from leading to a better understanding of the biology of a fascinating and ecologically important group of organisms, this project will also provide a model for combining molecular and behavioral approaches to reconstruct the evolution of complex behavior in other animals. Additionally, the patterns of variation among different honey bee populations in Southeast Asia, which is fragmented into islands separated by a range of distances and for varying periods of time, could lead to insights into the processes governing the behavioral and genetic divergence of animal populations evolving in isolation. Finally, given the prominent role played by the honey bees in the pollination of trees in tropical forests, these studies could aid future attempts to understand the ecology of this important ecosystem.

蜜蜂表现出两种复杂的社会行为， 长期以来吸引着人类观察者：“舞蹈语言”，一系列 成功的侦察蜂精确地 告诉它们的同伴花的位置 10公里远;和高度有组织的，常年殖民地。 我们对蜜蜂的行为知之甚少 今天还活着的人， 独居的祖先 因为行为不同于结构， 如果不把变化的历史顺序加以概括， 直接观察。 相反，它必须从比较中推断出来 有密切关系的物种。 因为相同的特征 相关的物种可以被认为是从一个共同的 祖先，人们可以推断祖先的特征 性状，以及在下降过程中发生的变化，从 现存物种之间的相似性和差异。 有6-8种蜜蜂（蜜蜂属， 有舞蹈语言，但在细节上有所不同。 跳舞。 所有的蜜蜂物种都有先进的社会，但是蜜蜂 在其他属中，它们表现出不同程度的社会组织。 这些模式已经被用来制定竞争 关于这些行为进化的假说。 模糊度 因为没有一组独立的特征令人满意地 解决了蜜蜂之间的系统发育关系 不同的种类，不同的蜂种。 本项目 将进行第一次全面的分子研究， 蜜蜂之间的差异，虽然分析的序列， DNA分子的亚单位）， 所有的物种。 样本将在几个 在亚洲和中美洲，提取的基因和 测序，以及物种之间的系统发育关系 由序列中的变化确定。 与此同时， 将进行进一步的详细研究，以便更清楚地了解情况 物种间行为变异的模式。 这些方法结合起来应该会带来更令人满意的答案 两个问题：舞蹈是如何从一组 更简单的行为，以及先进的社会性是否起源于 蜜蜂中唯一的，或者来自一个祖先， 产生了其他高度社会化的蜜蜂 除了让我们更好地理解 一个迷人的生态学上重要的生物群的起源 该项目还将提供一个模型， 和行为学方法来重建复杂的 其他动物的行为。 此外， 东南部不同蜜蜂种群间的变异 亚洲被一系列岛屿隔开， 距离和不同的时间段，可以导致洞察力 行为和遗传的控制过程 动物种群的分化是孤立进化的。 最后， 鉴于蜜蜂在农业生产中的重要作用， 热带森林中的树木授粉，这些研究可以帮助 未来试图了解这一重要的生态学 生态系统