School of Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
School of Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
Curr Opin Insect Sci. 2022 Oct;53:100951. doi: 10.1016/j.cois.2022.100951. Epub 2022 Jul 18.
Eusociality is a rare but successful life-history strategy that is defined by the reproductive division of labour. In eusocial species, most females forgo their own reproduction to support that of a dominant female or queen. In many eusocial insects, worker reproduction is inhibited via dominance hierarchies or by pheromones produced by the queen and her brood. Here, we consider whether these cues may act as generic 'environmental signals', similar to temperature or nutrition stress, which induce a state of reproductive dormancy in some solitary insects. We review the recent findings regarding the mechanisms of reproductive dormancy in insects and highlight key gaps in our understanding of how environmental cues inhibit reproduction.
群居性是一种罕见但成功的生活史策略，其特征是生殖分工。在群居性物种中，大多数雌性放弃自身繁殖以支持优势雌性或女王的繁殖。在许多群居性昆虫中，通过等级制度或由女王及其幼虫产生的信息素来抑制工蜂繁殖。在这里，我们考虑这些线索是否可以作为类似于温度或营养胁迫的通用“环境信号”，这些信号会诱导某些独居昆虫进入生殖休眠状态。我们回顾了有关昆虫生殖休眠机制的最新发现，并强调了我们对环境线索如何抑制生殖的理解中的关键差距。
