Development and Reproductive Strategies in Bombus Terrestris Colonies

Behaviour ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 107 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 186-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.J. Duchateau ◽  
H.H.W. Velthuis
Keyword(s):  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Reproductive Strategies ◽  
Bombus Terrestris ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Colony Development ◽  
Slow Phase ◽  
Switch Point ◽  
Rate Of Increase ◽  
Queen Production

The development and the reproductive output of 26 Bombus terrestris colonies were investigated. Four important points in colony development are distinguished. These are: a) the start of egg laying by the queen, leading to the beginning of the eusocial phase, the emergence of the first workers; b) the moment which we term the switch point, at which the queen switches from laying diploid eggs (producing workers or queens) to the laying of haploid eggs (producing males); c) the onset of queen production reared from diploid eggs; d) the loss of dominance by the queen, expressed by the beginning of aggression on the part of queen and workers, worker oviposition, oophagy and the functional elimination of the queen. This we call the competition point. The onset of queen production is highly correlated with the competition point but not correlated with the switch point. The pattern in time of the egg laying by a queen differed from the rate of increase of worker numbers published by previous authors. After an initial and slow phase, in which two broods of egg cells are produced, the rate of egg laying of a queen becomes constant, whether or not the eggs are fertilized. The transformation from this rate of egg laying to the earlier descriptions of increase in number is only possible if one neglects differences between colonies in time spent in the production of the two broods as well as the highly variable time needed for development into adults. The time at which the competition point occurs is much more predictable (at day 30.8 ± 4.9 after the emergence of the first worker) than the switch point. The latter ranges from day 6 to day 32. In our colonies two groups can be discerned, one of early switching colonies (at day 9.8 ± 2.4), the other of late switching colonies (at day 23.4 ± 4.6). The occurrence of the switch cannot be predicted from preceding behavioural or demographic data. As a consequence of the early switch such colonies produce mainly males. Partly due to the unfavourable larva/worker ratio only a few queens were reared from the last laid diploid eggs. In contradiction the late switching colonies produce on average sexuals at a 1.3:1 sex ratio (1:1.7 investment ratio). Remarkable however, biomass of sexuals is equal in both types of colonies. Males are about half the weight of queens. Certain colonies invest in males only ("3 males : 0 queens"). Since the two types of colonies occurred in about equal numbers, our local population is characterized by a 4:1 1(♂:♀) sex ratio. This male biased sex ratio, also observed for other bumblebees species (B. terricola and B. melanopygus, OWEN et al., 1980; OWEN & PLOWRIGHT, 1982), contrasts with existing theoretical models based on kin selection (TRIVERS & HARE, 1976) or local mate competition (ALEXANDER & SHERMAN, 1977) arguments. A model is proposed in which the males of the early switching colonies monopolize the matings due to their early appearance in the field. In fact, the early switching colonies, by investing mainly in males, parasitize on the reproductive strategy of the late switching colonies, which are characterized by a 1:1 sex ratio. At population level the two reproductive strategies are in equilibrium at a 1:1 frequency.

scholarly journals Experience in Rearing Common Carder Bees (Bombus pascuorum Scop.), with Some Notes on Three Similar Species: Shrill Carder Bee (B. sylvarum L.), Red-shanked Carder Bee (B. ruderarius Müll.), and Brown-banded Carder Bee (B. humilis Ill.) (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

2015 ◽  
Vol 63 (5) ◽  
pp. 1535-1542 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimír Ptáček ◽  
Alena Votavová ◽  
Olga Komzáková
Keyword(s):  
Bombus Terrestris ◽  
Vegetation Period ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Colony Development ◽  
Similar Species ◽  
Sugar Solution ◽  
Rearing Method ◽  
Small Plastic ◽  
Fresh Pollen ◽  
New Generation

The rearing method under controlled conditions known for Bombus terrestris was successful in initiating egg-laying for 83% of B. pascuorum queens. After larvae had hatched, fresh pollen pellets needed to be inserted into brood pockets daily. After the first workers had emerged, colony development was advanced by placing them outdoors and supplying them with a sugar solution and pollen. The bees were able to use tightly pressed pollen from small plastic pots inserted near the brood. This feeding resulted in large colonies that produced dozens of young queens. In contrast, colonies managed in the laboratory were unable to utilize pollen in a similar manner. They raised only a few workers and several queens. Mating young queens was easy. It was stimulated by daylight, but in the case of B. humilis by direct sunshine. Several B. pascuorum and B. sylvarum queens were overwintered and began the new generation under artificial conditions. However, a lack of fresh pollen limited the development of colonies outside of the vegetation period.

scholarly journals Lower pollen nutritional quality delays nest building and egg laying in Bombus terrestris audax micro-colonies leading to reduced biomass gain

Apidologie ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordan T. Ryder ◽  
Andrew Cherrill ◽  
Helen M. Thompson ◽  
Keith F. A. Walters
Keyword(s):  
Bombus Terrestris ◽  
Essential Amino Acids ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Nest Building ◽  
Colony Development ◽  
Total Biomass ◽  
Brood Production ◽  
Pollen Species ◽  
Colony Performance ◽  
Selection Of

AbstractThe performance of Bombus terrestris micro-colonies fed five diets differing in pollen species composition and level of nine essential amino acids (EAA; leucine, lysine, valine, arginine, isoleucine, phenylalanine, threonine, histidine, methionine) was assessed for 37 days by recording total biomass gain, nest building initiation, brood production (eggs, small and large larvae, pupae, drones), nectar, and pollen collection. Stronger colony performance was linked to higher amino acid levels but no consistent differences in biomass gain were recorded between mono- and poly-species diets. Poorest performance occurred in micro-colonies offered pure oilseed rape (OSR) pollen which contained the lowest EAA levels. Reduced micro-colony development (delayed nest initiation and lower brood production) was related to OSR proportion in the diet and lower EAA levels. Results are discussed in relation to selection of plant species in the design of habitats to promote bee populations.

scholarly journals Worker-Born Males Are Smaller but Have Similar Reproduction Ability to Queen-Born Males in Bumblebees

Insects ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 1008
Author(s):  
Huiyue Zhao ◽  
Yanjie Liu ◽  
Hong Zhang ◽  
Tom D. Breeze ◽  
Jiandong An
Keyword(s):  
Bombus Terrestris ◽  
Morphological Characteristics ◽  
Worker Reproduction ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Colony Development ◽  
Eusocial Insects ◽  
Reproductive Ability ◽  
Evolution Of Sociality ◽  
Sperm Counts ◽  
Virgin Queens

Queen-worker conflict over the reproduction of males exists in the majority of haplodiplioidy hymenpteran species such as bees, wasps, and ants, whose workers lose mating ability but can produce haploid males in colony. Bumblebee is one of the representatives of primitively eusocial insects with plastic division labor and belongs to monandrous and facultative low polyandry species that have reproductive totipotent workers, which are capable of competing with mother queen to produce haploid males in the queenright colony compared to higher eusocial species, e.g., honeybees. So, bumblebees should be a better material to study worker reproduction, but the reproductive characteristics of worker-born males (WMs) remain unclear. Here, we choose the best-studied bumblebee Bombus terrestris to evaluate the morphological characteristics and reproductive ability of WMs from the queenless micro-colonies. The sexually matured WMs showed smaller in forewing length and weight, relatively less sperm counts but equally high sperm viability in comparison with the queen-born males (QMs) of the queenright colony. Despite with smaller size, the WMs are able to successfully mate with the virgin queens in competition with the QMs under laboratory conditions, which is quite different from the honeybees reported. In addition, there was no difference in the colony development, including the traits such as egg-laying rate, colony establishment rate, and populations of offspring, between the WM- and the QM-mated queens. Our study highlights the equivalent reproductive ability of worker-born males compared to that of queens, which might exhibit a positive application or special use of bumblebee rearing, especially for species whose males are not enough for copulation. Further, our finding contributes new evidence to the kin selection theory and suggests worker reproduction might relate to the evolution of sociality in bees.

scholarly journals Effects of Three Kinds of Sugar Syrups on Colony Development of Bumble Bee (Bombus terrestris L.)

2012 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 13-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fehmi Gurel ◽  
Bahar A. Karsli ◽  
Ayhan Gosterit
Keyword(s):  
Production Rate ◽  
Bombus Terrestris ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Colony Development ◽  
Nest Boxes ◽  
Sugar Syrup ◽  
High Fructose ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Total Pollen ◽  
Fresh Pollen

Abstract The effects of three kinds of sugar syrups on colony development were studied. Weekly sugar syrup consumption of the Bombus terrestris dalmatinus colonies were investigated. A total of 60 queens were separately placed in standard nest boxes and randomly divided into three groups. We tested high fructose corn syrup (HFCS - fructose 42-45%, glucose 50-54%), sucrose syrup (SS - sucrose 99%), and industrial bee feeding sugar syrup (BFSS - fructose 37-40%, glucose 27-30%, sucrose 30-36%). All queens and colonies were fed with the same fresh pollen and reared under standard laboratory conditions (28 ± 1oC, 60 ± 5% RH). Pollen and sugar syrups (approximately 1:1 water:sugar) were provided ad libitum. Colony development traits, weekly syrup consumption, total syrup consumption, and total pollen consumption of each colony were recorded during periodic observations. The highest egg laying rate, colony production rate and saleable colony production rate (90, 75, and 50%, respectively) were found in the BFSS treatment. However, no significant difference was found among treatments in terms of examined colony characteristics. Until the colonies were large enough for sale (50-60 workers), the consumption of sugar syrup and pollen per one colony varied from 461 to 546 ml and from 164 to 190 g, respectively.

scholarly journals Availability of Sugar Solutions for Colony Development and Progeny-Queen Production of the European Bumblebee, Bombus terrestris

2012 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-35
Author(s):  
Hyung-Joo Yoon ◽  
Kyeong-Yong Lee ◽  
Mi-Ae Kim ◽  
Sang-Mi Han ◽  
Mi-Young Ahn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bombus Terrestris ◽  
Colony Development ◽  
Queen Production

scholarly journals Queen control of a key life-history event in a eusocial insect

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 20130056 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob G. Holland ◽  
Florian S. Guidat ◽  
Andrew F. G. Bourke
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Inclusive Fitness ◽  
Bombus Terrestris ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Bumble Bee ◽  
Switch Point ◽  
Eusocial Insects ◽  
Inclusive Fitness Theory ◽  
Queen Control ◽  
Potential Queen

In eusocial insects, inclusive fitness theory predicts potential queen–worker conflict over the timing of events in colony life history. Whether queens or workers control the timing of these events is poorly understood. In the bumble-bee Bombus terrestris , queens exhibit a ‘switch point’ in which they switch from laying diploid eggs yielding females (workers and new queens) to laying haploid eggs yielding males. By rearing foundress queens whose worker offspring were removed as pupae and sexing their eggs using microsatellite genotyping, we found that queens kept in the complete absence of adult workers still exhibit a switch point. Moreover, the timing of their switch points relative to the start of egg-laying did not differ significantly from that of queens allowed to produce normal colonies. The finding that bumble-bee queens can express the switch point in the absence of workers experimentally demonstrates queen control of a key life-history event in eusocial insects. In addition, we found no evidence that workers affect the timing of the switch point either directly or indirectly via providing cues to queens, suggesting that workers do not fully express their interests in queen–worker conflicts over colony life history.

scholarly journals Higher developmental temperature increases queen production and decreases worker body size in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris

2021 ◽  
Vol 88 ◽  
pp. 39-49
Author(s):  
Marie Guiraud ◽  
Bérénice Cariou ◽  
Maxime Henrion ◽  
Emily Baird ◽  
Maxence Gérard
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Elevated Temperatures ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Bombus Terrestris ◽  
Reproductive Investment ◽  
Colony Development ◽  
Resource Collection ◽  
Queen Production ◽  
The Impact

Climate change and increasing average temperatures are now affecting most ecosystems. Social insects such as bumblebees are especially impacted because these changes create spatial, temporal and morphological mismatches that could impede their ability to find food resources and mate. However, few studies have assessed how the colony and life cycle are affected when temperatures rise above optimal rearing temperature. It has become imperative to understand how heat stress affects the life history traits of insect pollinators as well as how changes in life history interact with other traits like morphology. For example, a decrease in the number of foraging workers could be balanced by producing larger workers, able to forage at longer distances and gather more resources. Here, we investigated the impact of temperature on colony production and body size in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris. Colonies were exposed to two temperatures: 25 °C, which is around the optimal temperature for larval development and 33 °C, which is slightly above the set-point that is considered stressful for bumblebees. Although the production of males and workers wasn’t significantly affected by these different temperatures, queen production and reproductive investment were much higher for colonies placed in 33 °C than in 25 °C. We also found that, in agreement with the temperature-size rule, workers were significantly smaller in the higher temperature. The decrease in worker body size could affect resource collection and pollination if their foraging distance and the quantity of food they are taking back to the colony decreases. While in our controlled conditions the bumblebees were fed ad libitum, the decrease of resource collection in field conditions could prevent colonies from producing as many queens as in our study. Together with the decrease of worker body size, our results suggest that elevated temperatures could ultimately have a negative impact on bumblebee colony fitness. Indeed, smaller workers are known to have weaker flight performance which could affect foraging performance and consequently colony development.

scholarly journals Sex ratio effects on reproductive strategies in humans

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 140402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan Schacht ◽  
Monique Borgerhoff Mulder
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Ethnic Group ◽  
Reproductive Strategies ◽  
Situational Factors ◽  
Male Mating ◽  
Mating Effort ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Adult Sex Ratio ◽  
Using Data

Characterizations of coy females and ardent males are rooted in models of sexual selection that are increasingly outdated. Evolutionary feedbacks can strongly influence the sex roles and subsequent patterns of sex differentiated investment in mating effort, with a key component being the adult sex ratio (ASR). Using data from eight Makushi communities of southern Guyana, characterized by varying ASRs contingent on migration, we show that even within a single ethnic group, male mating effort varies in predictable ways with the ASR. At male-biased sex ratios, men's and women's investment in mating effort are indistinguishable; only when men are in the minority are they more inclined towards short-term, low investment relationships than women. Our results support the behavioural ecological tenet that reproductive strategies are predictable and contingent on varying situational factors.

scholarly journals Unexpected resilience of species with temperature-dependent sex determination at the Cretaceous–Palaeogene boundary

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 295-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sherman Silber ◽  
Jonathan H. Geisler ◽  
Minjin Bolortsetseg
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Sex Determination ◽  
Volcanic Eruptions ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Molecular Clocks ◽  
Temperature Dependent ◽  
Hell Creek Formation ◽  
Male Preponderance ◽  
Genotypic Sex Determination

It has been suggested that climate change at the Cretaceous–Palaeogene (K–Pg) boundary, initiated by a bolide impact or volcanic eruptions, caused species with temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD), including dinosaurs, to go extinct because of a skewed sex ratio towards all males. To test this hypothesis, the sex-determining mechanisms (SDMs) of Cretaceous tetrapods of the Hell Creek Formation (Montana, USA) were inferred using parsimony optimizations of SDMs on a tree, including Hell Creek species and their extant relatives. Although the SDMs of non-avian dinosaurs could not be inferred, we were able to determine the SDMs of 62 species; 46 had genotypic sex determination (GSD) and 16 had TSD. The TSD hypothesis for extinctions performed poorly, predicting between 32 and 34 per cent of survivals and extinctions. Most surprisingly, of the 16 species with TSD, 14 of them survived into the Early Palaeocene. In contrast, 61 per cent of species with GSD went extinct. Possible explanations include minimal climate change at the K–Pg, or if climate change did occur, TSD species that survived had egg-laying behaviour that prevented the skewing of sex ratios, or had a sex ratio skewed towards female rather than male preponderance. Application of molecular clocks may allow the SDMs of non-avian dinosaurs to be inferred, which would be an important test of the pattern discovered here.

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