Genetic and Phenotypic Variation in Foraging Behavior of African and European Honey Bees

非洲和欧洲蜜蜂觅食行为的遗传和表型变异

• 批准号: 0093410
• 负责人: Jennifer Fewell
• 金额: $ 40.87万
• 依托单位: Arizona State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2001
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2001-03-01 至 2006-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0093410&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Genetic; Phenotypic; Variation; Foraging; Behavior

Genetic and Phenotypic Variation in Foraging Behavior of African and European Honey BeesPrinciple Investigators: Jennifer H. Fewell and Jon F. Harrison, Arizona State UniversityA fundamental question in integrative biology is how genetic variation relates to variation in an animal's survival and reproductive strategies. One way to answer this is to determine the genetic basis for behavioral differences between animal populations and then assess the ecological effects of those differences. This project examines foraging strategy differences between neotropical African-derived (Apis mellifera scutellata) and European (Apis mellifera ligustica) honey bees. It addresses to the questions of: (1) how genetic variation between African and European workers influences foraging strategy, and (2) how variation in worker foraging strategy affects differences in colony growth rates between the two subspecies. Population-level research suggests that African honey bees out-compete European bees primarily through faster rates of colony growth and reproduction (swarming). Because honey bees are social insects, these differences in colony strategy are generated by collective differences in the behavior of the colony's individual workers. Prior research by the investigators suggests that a major behavioral difference between African and European workers is in foraging. African workers show a higher tendency than European workers to collect pollen. Because pollen is the primary food source for developing brood, this difference can have profound effects on colony growth. The first objective of this research is to understand the mechanisms producing individual differences in pollen and nectar foraging. The investigators will test the hypothesis that differences in resource choice between African and European foragers are driven by differences in their sensitivity to stimuli affecting pollen collection. They will determine whether co-fostered African workers respond more readily to stimuli known to affect pollen foraging, and examine differences between African and European workers in genomic regions (quantitative trait loci or QTL's) known to be associated with pollen foraging behavior in European bees.Preliminary data also suggest that African and European workers differ in work effort during foraging, and that this variation may be mediated by differences in metabolic capacity. The second objective is to test the hypothesis that variation in metabolic rate between African and European honey bees is genetically based, and is linked to differences in resource preference and foraging effort. The researchers will compare metabolic rates, foraging load sizes and foraging rates of co-fostered African, European and hybrid workers to determine how these traits are inherited. Then, quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping will be performed to locate genomic regions influencing variation in flight metabolic rates. These will be compared to known loci affecting body size and preference for pollen versus nectar collection. The third objective is to determine whether variation in individual foraging behavior affects colony-level growth rates. The investigators will: (a) measure pollen intake rates and colony growth rates in African and European hives, and (b) experimentally manipulate the genotypes of the foragers in a hive (African versus European), to measure the effect of forager genotype on brood production. This research integrates behavior, physiology and genetics to generate a more complete understanding of the proximate mechanisms generating complex behavioral traits such as foraging. It also examines the consequences of individual behavioral differences on the ecological success of these competing subspecies.

非洲和欧洲蜜蜂觅食行为的遗传和表型变异原理研究人员：亚利桑那州立大学的詹妮弗·H·费威尔和乔恩·F·哈里森综合生物学中的一个基本问题是，遗传变异如何与动物生存和繁殖策略的变异有关。回答这个问题的一种方法是确定动物种群之间行为差异的遗传基础，然后评估这些差异的生态影响。本项目研究了新热带非洲蜜蜂和欧洲蜜蜂之间的觅食策略差异。它解决了以下问题：(1)非洲和欧洲工蚁之间的遗传差异如何影响觅食策略，以及(2)工蚁觅食策略的差异如何影响两个亚种之间的群体增长率差异。种群水平的研究表明，非洲蜜蜂主要通过更快的群体增长和繁殖(蜂群)速度超过欧洲蜜蜂。由于蜜蜂是群居昆虫，蜂群策略上的这些差异是由蜂群个体工蚁行为的集体差异产生的。研究人员先前的研究表明，非洲和欧洲工人之间的一个主要行为差异是觅食。非洲工人比欧洲工人收集花粉的倾向更高。由于花粉是发育后代的主要食物来源，这种差异可能会对群体生长产生深远的影响。这项研究的第一个目标是了解造成花粉和花蜜觅食的个体差异的机制。研究人员将检验这一假设，即非洲和欧洲采集者在资源选择上的差异是由他们对影响花粉采集的刺激的不同敏感度所驱动的。他们将确定共同培养的非洲工作者是否更容易对已知影响花粉搜寻的刺激做出反应，并检查非洲和欧洲工作者在基因组区域(数量性状基因座或QTL)上的差异，这些基因组区域与欧洲蜜蜂的花粉搜寻行为有关。初步数据还表明，非洲和欧洲工作者在觅食过程中的工作努力不同，这种差异可能是由新陈代谢能力的差异所调节的。第二个目标是检验这一假设，即非洲和欧洲蜜蜂之间代谢率的差异是基于遗传的，并与资源偏好和觅食努力的差异有关。研究人员将比较共同培养的非洲、欧洲和杂交工蚁的代谢率、觅食负荷量和觅食速度，以确定这些特征是如何遗传的。然后，将进行数量性状基因座(QTL)定位，以定位影响飞行代谢率变异的基因组区域。这些基因将与影响身体大小和偏爱花粉与花蜜采集的已知基因进行比较。第三个目标是确定个体觅食行为的差异是否会影响种群水平的增长率。研究人员将：(A)测量非洲和欧洲蜂箱中的花粉摄取率和群体生长率，以及(B)通过实验操纵蜂箱中觅食者的基因类型(非洲和欧洲)，以衡量觅食者基因对后代生产的影响。这项研究整合了行为学、生理学和遗传学，以更完整地理解产生复杂行为特征(如觅食)的最近机制。它还考察了个体行为差异对这些相互竞争的亚种生态成功的影响。