DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Worker Nepotism During Queen Combat in Honey Bees

论文研究：蜜蜂蜂王争斗期间工蜂裙带关系

• 批准号: 0104929
• 负责人: Thomas Seeley
• 金额: $ 1万
• 依托单位: Cornell University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2001
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2001-05-01 至 2002-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0104929&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; Worker; Nepotism; During

DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Worker nepotism during queen combat in honey beesPrincipal Investigator (thesis advisor): Thomas D. SeeleyDoctoral Studies Graduate Student: David C. GilleyNepotism is a widespread phenomenon in social animals, yet there is little evidence of it within the highly cooperative societies of insects, such as honey bees. Evolutionary theory predicts that the workers in honey bee colonies should show nepotism when there are multiple queens in a colony and they are fighting to the death to determine who will be the colony's next queen. Each worker has the opportunity to help a full-sister queen (with whom the worker shares three quarters of her genes) kill half-sister queens (with whom the worker shares only one quarter of her genes). The graduate student will determine if honey bee workers behave nepotistically during queen fighting. He will accomplish this goal in three steps (steps 1 and 2 have been completed).1. He has observed queen fighting in a natural context and has determined that two worker behaviors, worker-queen aggression and queen-cell guarding, are most likely to be nepotistic.2. He has labeled for individual identification the workers in five colonies and has recorded their worker-queen aggression and queen-cell guarding during subsequent queen fighting.3. He will use DNA microsatellites to determine if the workers from step 2 more often aggressed half-sister queens and more often guarded full-sister cells.Evidence of nepotism in honey bee colonies will show that even in highly cooperative societies nepotism will occur when the benefit of nepotism (a greater share of the colony's reproductive output) exceeds the cost of nepotism (a smaller total colony reproductive output).

论文研究：蜜蜂蜂王争斗期间工蜂裙带关系首席研究员（论文顾问）：Thomas D. Seeley 博士研究研究生：David C. Gilley 裙带关系是社会性动物中普遍存在的现象，但在高度合作的昆虫社会（例如蜜蜂）中，几乎没有证据表明这种现象。 进化论预测，当一个蜂群中有多个蜂王时，蜂群中的工蜂就会表现出裙带关系，并且他们会为决定谁将是该蜂群的下一个蜂王而进行殊死搏斗。 每个工蚁都有机会帮助全姐妹蚁后（工蚁与其共享四分之三的基因）杀死同父异母的姐妹蚁后（工蚁与其仅共享四分之一的基因）。 研究生将确定工蜂在蜂王争斗期间是否表现出裙带关系。 他将分三步完成这个目标（步骤1和2已经完成）。 1．他观察了自然环境中蜂王的争斗，并确定了两种工蜂行为，即工蜂蜂王的攻击行为和蜂王巢穴的守卫，最有可能是裙带关系。2．他对五个蜂群中的工蜂进行了个体识别标记，并记录了它们在随后的蜂王战斗中的工蜂与蜂王的攻击行为以及蜂王室的守卫情况。3。他将利用 DNA 微卫星来确定第 2 步中的工蜂是否更频繁地攻击同父异母的姐妹蜂王，以及更频繁地保护同父异母的姐妹蜂王。 蜂群中裙带关系的证据将表明，即使在高度合作的社会中，当裙带关系的好处（蜂群生殖产出的较大份额）超过裙带关系的成本（蜂群生殖产出总量较小）时，裙带关系也会发生。