BIODEMOGRAPHIC EFFECTS OF SOCIAL EVOLUTION IN THE HONEY BEE

本研究的目的是探讨社会进化对蜜蜂(蜜蜂L)衰老和死亡模式的影响。社会对衰老的影响的研究在很大程度上局限于对人类的调查，这些调查的实验方法必然是有限的。群居昆虫群体是一种复杂的适应系统，代表着一种主要的进化转变。它们允许在生物组织的不同水平上研究衰老，包括社会单位、个人、生理过程及其相互作用。蜜蜂已经是许多生物学学科的典范，因此将成为衰老研究的重要社会模式生物。第一个目标是调查蜜蜂寿命的社会决定因素，特别是解决以下问题：a)个人(遗传)属性和社会环境对个人寿命的相对贡献是什么？B)群体人口结构(群体规模和年龄构成)如何影响个人寿命？育儿(代际转移)对寿命有何影响？这些问题中的每一个都将在一系列实验中得到解决，这些实验涉及广泛的群体操纵和人口调查，多个焦点队列的特定年龄生存测量，以及个人和群体中资源分配的直接测量。将对数据进行分析，以验证与计划项目中的其他合作者一起同时取得的理论进展。 第二个目标是确定蜜蜂行为衰老的不同成分 工人们。蜜蜂的觅食能力随着年龄的增长而下降。将研究高龄时感觉(嗅觉、味觉、视觉反应)和运动(飞行和运动)系统的退化。此外，更高层次的过程，如认知能力(学习和记忆)和招募行为(舞蹈节奏)，将被调查年龄效应。不同年龄段的蜜蜂觅食者将接受完善的行为测试。将调查各种行为衰老测量和生理测量之间的潜在联系，并仔细研究衰老对社会组织的作用。

The objective of this research project is to investigate the effects of social evolution on aging and mortality patterns in the honey bee (Apis mellifera L). The study of social influences on aging is largely restricted to investigations on humans that have a necessarily limited experimental approach. Social insect colonies are complex adaptive systems representing one of the major evolutionary transitions. They allow studies of aging at different levels of biological organization including the social unit, the individual, physiological processes, and their interactions. Already a model in a number of biological disciplines, the honey bee thus will constitute an important, social model organism for aging research. The first aim is to investigate social determinants of honey bee lifespan, specifically addressing the following questions: a) What are the relative contributions of individual (genetic) properties and social environment to individual lifespan? b) How do group demographics (group size and age composition) affect individual lifespan? How does brood care (intergenerational transfer) influence lifespan? Each of these questions will be addressed in a series of experiments that involve extensive colony manipulations and demographic surveys, age-specific survival measures of multiple, focal cohorts, and direct measures of resource allocation in individuals and colonies. The data will be analyzed to validate concurrent theoretical advances in conjunction with other collaborators in the program project. The second aim is to determine different components of behavioral senescence in honey bee workers. Honey bee foraging performance declines with age. Deterioration of sensory (olfactory, gustatory, visual responsiveness), and motor (flight and locomotion) systems at advanced ages will be studied. Furthermore, higher-order processes such as cognitive abilities (learning and memory) and recruitment behavior (dance tempo) will be investigated for age effects. Honey bee foragers of different age classes will be subjected to well-established behavioral assays. Potential links between the various measures of behavioral senescence and physiological measurements will be investigated, and the role of senescence for societal organization will be scrutinized.