Institute of Environmental Sciences, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland.
Sci Rep. 2018 Jun 21;8(1):9459. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-27844-w.
In eusocial insect colonies, workers have individual preferences for performing particular tasks. Previous research suggests that these preferences might be associated with worker reproductive potential; however, different studies have yielded inconsistent results. This study constitutes the first comparison of foraging preferences between genetically similar normal and rebel honeybee workers, which present different reproductive potential. We found that rebels, which have a higher reproductive potential than normal workers, displayed a delayed onset of foraging and a stronger tendency to collect nectar compared with normal workers. These results support the hypothesis that workers with high reproductive potential invest more in their own egg laying and avoid risky tasks such as foraging. In contrast, the results do not support the hypothesis that reproductive workers initiate foraging earlier in life than normal workers and specialize in pollen foraging.
在社会性昆虫群体中，工蜂对执行特定任务具有个体偏好。先前的研究表明，这些偏好可能与工蜂的生殖潜力有关；然而，不同的研究得出了不一致的结果。本研究首次比较了具有不同生殖潜力的遗传相似的正常和反叛蜜蜂工蜂之间的觅食偏好。我们发现，反叛者比正常工蜂具有更高的生殖潜力，与正常工蜂相比，它们的觅食开始时间延迟，并且更倾向于采集花蜜。这些结果支持了这样一种假设，即具有高生殖潜力的工蜂会更多地投资于自己的产卵，并避免风险任务，如觅食。相比之下，这些结果并不支持生殖工蜂比正常工蜂更早开始觅食并专门从事花粉觅食的假设。
