scholarly journals Care-giver identity impacts offspring development and performance in an annually social bumble bee

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudinéia P. Costa ◽  
Kaleigh Fisher ◽  
Blanca M. Guillén ◽  
Naoki Yamanaka ◽  
Guy Bloch ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Factors ◽  
Comparative Investigation ◽  
Alloparental Care ◽  
Bumble Bee ◽  
Care Giver ◽  
Brood Care ◽  
Offspring Performance ◽  
Offspring Development ◽  
Eusocial Insects ◽  
Worker Brood

Abstract Background The developmental fates of offspring have the potential to be influenced by the identity of their care-givers and by the nature of the care that they receive. In animals that exhibit both parental and alloparental care, such as the annually eusocial insects, the influence of care-giver identity can be directly assessed to yield mechanistic and evolutionary insights into the origins and elaboration of brood care. Here, we performed a comparative investigation of maternal and worker brood care in bumble bees, a pollinator group where mothers (queens) rear the first offspring in the nest, and then daughters (workers) assume this role upon their emergence. Specifically, we compared the effects of queen and worker brood care on offspring development and also offspring performance, for a set of traits related to sensory biology, learning, and stress resistance. Results We found that queen-reared workers were smaller-bodied than worker-reared offspring, suggesting that bumble bee queens influence body size determination in their offspring. We also found that queen-reared workers were more resistant to starvation, which might be beneficial for early nesting success. These maternal influences could not be explained by feeding rate, given that we detected a similar offspring feeding frequency in both queens and workers. Conclusion Bumble bee queens have a unique influence on the development of the first offspring in the nest, which they rear, relative to worker-reared workers. We propose that bumble bee brood care has been shaped by a suite of evolutionary and ecological factors, which might include a maternal influence on traits that promote survival of incipient colonies.

scholarly journals Phenotypic correlation between queen and worker brood care supports the role of maternal care in the evolution of eusociality

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (21) ◽  
pp. 10409-10415 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin T. Walsh ◽  
Lisa Signorotti ◽  
Timothy A. Linksvayer ◽  
Patrizia d'Ettorre
Keyword(s):  
Maternal Care ◽  
Phenotypic Correlation ◽  
Brood Care ◽  
Evolution Of Eusociality ◽  
Worker Brood

scholarly journals Harsh environments promote alloparental care across human societies

2020 ◽  
Vol 287 (1933) ◽  
pp. 20200758 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. S. Martin ◽  
E. J. Ringen ◽  
P. Duda ◽  
A. V. Jaeggi
Keyword(s):  
Multilevel Models ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Ecological Factors ◽  
Extended Period ◽  
Infant Care ◽  
Population History ◽  
Harsh Environments ◽  
Alloparental Care ◽  
Juvenile Dependency ◽  
Fitness Benefits

Alloparental care is central to human life history, which integrates exceptionally short interbirth intervals and large birth size with an extended period of juvenile dependency and increased longevity. Formal models, previous comparative research, and palaeoanthropological evidence suggest that humans evolved higher levels of cooperative childcare in response to increasingly harsh environments. Although this hypothesis remains difficult to test directly, the relative importance of alloparental care varies across human societies, providing an opportunity to assess how local social and ecological factors influence the expression of this behaviour. We therefore, investigated associations between alloparental infant care and socioecology across 141 non-industrialized societies. We predicted increased alloparental care in harsher environments, due to the fitness benefits of cooperation in response to shared ecological challenges. We also predicted that starvation would decrease alloparental care, due to prohibitive energetic costs. Using Bayesian phylogenetic multilevel models, we tested these predictions while accounting for potential confounds as well as for population history. Consistent with our hypotheses, we found increased alloparental infant care in regions characterized by both reduced climate predictability and relatively lower average temperatures and precipitation. We also observed reduced alloparental care under conditions of high starvation. These results provide evidence of plasticity in human alloparenting in response to ecological contexts, comparable to previously observed patterns across avian and mammalian cooperative breeders. This suggests convergent social evolutionary processes may underlie both inter- and intraspecific variation in alloparental care.

scholarly journals The queen, but not the brood, drives early changes in brain gene expression in bumble bee workers 

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Priscila Santos ◽  
Jesse Starkey ◽  
David Galbraith ◽  
Etya Amsalem
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Expression Patterns ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Differentially Expressed ◽  
Bumble Bee ◽  
Brood Care ◽  
Brain Gene Expression ◽  
Evolution Of Sociality ◽  
And Behavior

Worker reproduction in social insects is often regulated by the queen, but can be regulated by the brood and nestmates, who may use different mechanisms to induce the same outcomes in subordinates. Analysis of brain gene expression patterns in bumble bee workers (Bombus impatiens) in response to the presence of the queen, the brood, both or neither, identified 18 differentially expressed genes, 17 of them are regulated by the queen and none are regulated by the brood. Overall, brain gene expression differences in workers were driven by the queen’s presence, despite recent studies showing that brood reduces worker egg laying and provides context to the queen pheromones. The queen affected important regulators of reproduction and brood care across insects, such as neuroparsin and vitellogenin, and a comparison with similar datasets in the honey bee and the clonal raider ant revealed that neuroparsin is differentially expressed in all species. These data emphasize the prominent role of the queen in regulating worker physiology and behavior. Genes that serve as key regulators of workers’ reproduction are likely to play an important role in the evolution of sociality.

scholarly journals Sperm variation within a single ejaculate affects offspring development in Atlantic salmon

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 20131040 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone Immler ◽  
Cosima Hotzy ◽  
Ghazal Alavioon ◽  
Erik Petersson ◽  
Göran Arnqvist
Keyword(s):  
Atlantic Salmon ◽  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Salmo Salar ◽  
Sperm Function ◽  
Transgenerational Effects ◽  
Offspring Performance ◽  
Sperm Activation ◽  
Affected Offspring ◽  
Offspring Development ◽  
Sperm Longevity

It is generally believed that variation in sperm phenotype within a single ejaculate has no consequences for offspring performance, because sperm phenotypes are thought not to reflect sperm genotypes. We show that variation in individual sperm function within an ejaculate affects the performance of the resulting offspring in the Atlantic salmon Salmo salar . We experimentally manipulated the time between sperm activation and fertilization in order to select for sperm cohorts differing in longevity within single ejaculates of wild caught male salmon. We found that within-ejaculate variation in sperm longevity significantly affected offspring development and hence time until hatching. Whether these effects have a genetic or epigenetic basis needs to be further evaluated. However, our results provide experimental evidence for transgenerational effects of individual sperm function.

scholarly journals Parental conflict in birds: comparative analyses of offspring development, ecology and mating opportunities

2007 ◽  
Vol 275 (1632) ◽  
pp. 301-307 ◽  
Author(s):  
V.A Olson ◽  
A Liker ◽  
R.P Freckleton ◽  
T Székely
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Sexual Conflict ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Ecological Factors ◽  
Parental Conflict ◽  
Offspring Development ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Care Systems ◽  
Mating Opportunities ◽  
Altricial Birds

Parents often conflict over how much care to provide to their offspring. This conflict is expected to produce a negative relationship between male and female parental care, the strength of which may be mediated by both ecological and life-history variables. Previous studies have observed such trade-offs, but it is not known how generally they occur. Traditional views of sexual conflict place great importance on ecological factors in determining levels of parental care, whereas alternative views propose that the key determinant is mating opportunity. We carried out a broad-scale comparative study of parental conflict using 193 species from 41 families of birds. Using phylogenetic comparative analysis, we establish the generality of intersexual parental care conflict. We also show that parental conflict, as indicated by the disparity in care between the male and the female, depends on offspring development and mating opportunities, since in precocial species both males and females responded to increased mating opportunities. Altricial birds, however, failed to show these relationships. We also found little influence of breeding climate on parental conflict. Taken together, our results suggest that sexual conflict is a key element in the evolution of parental care systems. They also support the view that the major correlates of the intersexual conflict are mating opportunities for both sexes, rather than the breeding environment.

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.

Defense in Social Insects: Diversity, Division of Labor, and Evolution

2022 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 407-436
Author(s):  
Patrick Abbot
Keyword(s):  
Social Insects ◽  
Social Evolution ◽  
Ecological Factors ◽  
Context Dependency ◽  
Active Defense ◽  
Eusocial Insects ◽  
Gene Regulatory ◽  
Emerging Themes ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Diverse Groups

All social insects defend their colony from predators, parasites, and pathogens. In Oster and Wilson's classic work, they posed one of the key paradoxes about defense in social insects: Given the universal necessity of defense, why then is there so much diversity in mechanisms? Ecological factors undoubtedly are important: Predation and usurpation have imposed strong selection on eusocial insects, and active defense by colonies is a ubiquitous feature of all social insects. The description of diverse insect groups with castes of sterile workers whose main duty is defense has broadened the purview of social evolution in insects, in particular with respect to caste and behavior. Defense is one of the central axes along which we can begin to organize and understand sociality in insects. With the establishment of social insect models such as the honey bee, new discoveries are emerging regarding the endocrine, neural, and gene regulatory mechanisms underlying defense in social insects. The mechanisms underlying morphological and behavioral defense traits may be shared across diverse groups, providing opportunities for identifying both conserved and novel mechanisms at work. Emerging themes highlight the context dependency of and interaction between factors that regulate defense in social insects.

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