The Role of Genotypic Diversity in the Regulation of Honeybee Foraging

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A key requirement of division of labor in social insect colonies is the ability to respond flexibly to environmental change. This ability is crucial to survival in variable environments. Recent evidence suggests a significant part of observed behavioral variation in social insect colonies is genetically based. In the research, the role of genetic variation in colony flexibility and task regulation by the honey bee, Apis mellifera will be examined. Dr. Fewell will examine stimulus threshold model which describes how genotypic diversity may function as a mechanism for regulating division of labor in social insects. This model proposes that individual workers have genetically linked thresholds to perform a given task, and that a range of genotypic within a colony provides a range of tendencies to perform that task. From this model, one can predict that the genotypic composition of the population performing a task will change as environmental conditions and, therefore, stimulus environments change. Dr. Fewell will test this prediction by changing colony need for pollen and measuring associated changes in the genetic composition of the pollen and nectar foraging populations. This will be the first experimental test of the role of genotypic variation in social insect foraging regulation. These studies will address the important question of whether current hypotheses on the role of genotype in honey bee foraging apply to naturally mated colonies. They also will involve the application of a new set of molecular genetic techniques, PCR and RAPD analysis, to behavioral questions in social insects.