DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Worker Nepotism During Queen Combat in Honey Bees

论文研究：工蜂在蜂后战斗中的裙带关系主要研究者（论文指导老师）：托马斯D。博士研究生：大卫C。裙带关系在社会性动物中是一种普遍现象，但在高度合作的昆虫社会（如蜜蜂）中却几乎没有证据。 进化理论预测，当一个蜂群中有多个蜂王，它们为了决定谁将成为殖民地的下一个蜂王而战斗到死时，蜂群中的工蜂应该表现出裙带关系。 每个工蜂都有机会帮助同父异母的蜂王（与工蜂共享四分之三的基因）杀死同父异母的蜂王（与工蜂仅共享四分之一的基因）。 研究生将确定蜜蜂工人是否在蜂王战斗中表现出裙带关系。 他将通过三个步骤来实现这个目标（步骤1和2已经完成）。1.他观察到蚁后在自然环境中的争斗，并确定两种工蜂行为，工蜂-蚁后攻击和蚁后-细胞守卫，最有可能是裙带关系。他为五个蚁群中的工蚁贴上了个体识别标签，并记录了它们在随后的蚁后战斗中的工蚁-蚁后攻击和蚁后-细胞守卫。他将利用DNA微卫星来确定第二步中的工蜂是否更经常攻击同父异母的蜂王，而更经常保护同母异父的蜂王细胞。蜂群中裙带关系的证据将表明，即使在高度合作的社会中，裙带关系也会发生，当裙带关系的好处（更大份额的殖民地生殖产出）超过裙带关系的代价（更小的总群体生殖产出）时。

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).