Dissertation Research: A test of Risk Sensitivity Theory and its energy budget rule in the honeybee

论文研究：风险敏感性理论及其能量预算规则在蜜蜂中的检验

• 批准号: 1110418
• 负责人: Dhruba Naug
• 金额: $ 1.38万
• 依托单位: Colorado State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-06-15 至 2012-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1110418&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dissertation; Research; test; Risk; Sensitivity

Disease is often known to lead to the performance of risky behaviors. Using the energy budget rule of Risk Sensitivity Theory as a theoretical foundation, this project asks whether such risky behavior stems from the energetic stress incurred from a disease because it is adaptive to be risk-averse when one?s energy budget is positive and be risk-prone when it is negative. Using the honeybee as a model, the project will use a suite of feeding regimes to put individuals at different energy budgets and use an olfactory conditioning assay to test their choice for constant (risk-averse) and variable (risk-prone) reward distributions. The project will also test how an individual monitors its energetic state in order to behave in a risk-sensitive fashion and how this assessment is operative in an individual whose energetic state is tightly tied to that of the colony. Using an enzyme inhibitor to keep an individual artificially starved and thus uncouple its energetic state from that of its colony (which also mimics the energetic stress of a parasitic infection in a host), the project will test if foraging decisions can be dictated by the energetic state of the individual independent of the energetic state of the colony. By integrating potential links between disease ecology, physiology, and behavioral ecology, the proposed research has the potential to provide a mechanistic basis and a novel perspective for the recent worldwide phenomenon of honeybee colony collapse characterized by bees disappearing from their colonies. The project will also involve undergraduate students in science education at local schools and collaboration with local beekeepers to improve honeybee health in general.

众所周知，疾病往往会导致危险行为的表现。本研究以风险敏感性理论的能量预算法则为理论基础，探讨这种风险行为是否源于疾病带来的能量压力，因为当一种疾病发生时，它是适应性的风险规避？美国的能源预算为正，为负时容易出现风险。以蜜蜂为模型，该项目将使用一套喂养制度将个体置于不同的能量预算，并使用嗅觉条件反射试验来测试他们对恒定（风险厌恶）和可变（风险倾向）奖励分配的选择。该项目还将测试个体如何监测其能量状态，以便以风险敏感的方式行事，以及这种评估如何在能量状态与殖民地紧密相连的个体中起作用。使用酶抑制剂使个体保持人工饥饿，从而将其能量状态与其群体的能量状态分离（这也模拟了宿主中寄生虫感染的能量压力），该项目将测试觅食决定是否可以由个体的能量状态决定，而不依赖于殖民地的能量状态。通过整合疾病生态学，生理学和行为生态学之间的潜在联系，所提出的研究有可能为最近世界范围内蜜蜂群体崩溃的现象提供一个机制基础和一个新的视角。该项目还将让当地学校的本科生参与科学教育，并与当地养蜂人合作，以改善蜜蜂的健康状况。