蜜蜂(Apis mellifera)群体大小对卫生行为表现的影响

IF 1.9 2区 生物学 Q3 BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
Phoebe Snyder, Jaymie Martin, Jacob J. Herman, Shlomo Franklin, Kaira M. Wagoner, Victoria Soroker, Olav Rueppell
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引用次数: 0

摘要

摘要 动物群体的大小对个体和集体行为有着深远的影响,特别是在社会性昆虫群落中。据预测,较大的群体会更加复杂,成员之间的专业化程度更高。然而,对这一理论预期的经验支持却很有限。蜜蜂的卫生行为是工蜂发现、揭开盖子和清除不健康雏蜂的复杂合作行为。这是蜜蜂抵御包括外寄生螨破坏者 Varroa 在内的育雏疾病的重要手段。我们通过模拟模型证实了卫生行为随群体大小而增加的预测。为了从经验上验证这一预测,我们进行了五次实验,比较了四种不同规模(大致代表四个数量级)的小型蜜蜂群体和大型蜜蜂群体的卫生表现。不同规模的蜂群的卫生表现都有质的提高,但不同的方法限制了不同实验之间的定量比较。在实验中,群体大小也与卫生行为呈正相关。与蜜蜂在自然条件下的行为相比,群体规模越小,对卫生行为的影响越大。蜂群规模对卫生表现的影响随着规模的扩大而减小,在整个蜂群规模中,蜂群规模与卫生检测得分无关。因此,在养蜂实践中,虽然我们证明了群体大小对卫生行为的明显影响,但群体大小不太可能干扰对蜂群的卫生评价。在两个小规模实验中对个体行为的直接观察并不支持我们的预测,即在较大的群体中个体的专业化程度会提高。因此,我们的研究支持在社会免疫背景下大群体对表现有益的观点,尽管群体大小如何增强卫生行为的机制仍有待进一步研究。 意义声明社会性昆虫在生态学上的成功部分归功于其有效的劳动分工和群体成员的行为专业化。群体表现随群体大小而提高的理论支持并不充分。卫生行为是抵御威胁蜜蜂健康的害虫和疾病的重要手段。然而,还没有人研究过卫生行为与蜂群规模的关系。在这里,我们对一个模拟模型进行了分析,从理论上证明了群体大小会增加卫生行为。然后,我们在各种规模的蜂群中为这一预测提供了实验支持,尽管有些实验结果模棱两可,而且样本数量有限,限制了我们的经验性结论。在小群体中,我们发现卫生表现会随着群体规模的扩大而提高这一理论观点得到了支持,但我们的研究也表明,在与养蜂相关的群体规模条件下,这种影响并不十分重要。在较大的群体中,我们没有发现支持个体专业化程度较高的观点。此外,我们的研究还表明,养蜂人在评估蜂群的卫生行为时,可以不考虑蜂群规模的偏差。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。

The impact of honey bee (Apis mellifera) group size on hygienic behavior performance

The impact of honey bee (Apis mellifera) group size on hygienic behavior performance

Abstract

The size of animal groups has profound effects on individual and collective behavior, particularly in social insect colonies. Larger colonies are predicted to be more complex with more specialization among members. However, the empirical support of this theoretical expectation is limited. Hygienic behavior of honey bees is a complex cooperative behavior of workers detecting, uncapping, and removing unhealthy brood. It is an important defense against brood diseases, including the ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor. We support the prediction that hygienic behavior increases with group size using a simulation model. To also test this prediction empirically, we performed five experiments, to compare the hygienic performance of small and large honey bee groups at four different scales, roughly representing four orders of magnitude. Hygienic performance qualitatively increased across the different scales, but different methodologies limit quantitative comparisons across experiments. Within experiments, group size was also positively related to hygienic behavior. The strongest effects of group size were measured in groups that were smaller than what honey bees adopt under natural conditions. The group-size effect on hygienic performance decreased with increasing scale and at the full colony scale, group size was unrelated to hygienic assay scores. Therefore, colony size is unlikely to confound the hygienic evaluation of colonies in apicultural practice although we demonstrate clear effects of group size on hygienic behavior. Direct observations of individual behavior that were performed in two small scale experiments did not support our prediction of increased individual specialization in larger groups. Thus, our study supports the notion of performance benefits of larger groups in the context of social immunity, although the mechanisms of how group size enhances hygienic behavior remain to be investigated further.

Significance Statement

Social insects owe their ecological success partly to their efficient division of labor and behavioral specialization of colony members. Empirical support for the theoretical argument that group performance increases with group size is insufficient. Hygienic behavior is an important defense against brood pests and diseases that threaten honey bee health. Yet, it has not been investigated with respect to group size. Here, we analyze a simulation model, demonstrating theoretically that group size is predicted to increase hygienic behavior. We then provide experimental support for this prediction across a range of group sizes, though results of some experiments are equivocal and sample sizes are limited, constraining our empirical conclusions. In small groups, we find support for the theoretical idea that hygienic performance increases with group size, but our study also indicates that this effect is not very important under apiculturally relevant group size conditions. We find no support for higher individual specialization in larger groups. Furthermore, our study indicates that beekeepers can disregard deviations in colony size when assessing their stock for hygienic behavior.

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来源期刊
CiteScore
3.90
自引率
8.70%
发文量
146
审稿时长
3 months
期刊介绍: The journal publishes reviews, original contributions and commentaries dealing with quantitative empirical and theoretical studies in the analysis of animal behavior at the level of the individual, group, population, community, and species.
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