Reproductive cycling and hierarchical competition in Cape honeybees, Apis mellifera capensis Esch

Hepburn, H. R.

doi:10.1051/apido:19940105

Cited by 20 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Given that the fitness of queenless colonies is relevant at the population level (Hepburn, 1994;Moritz et al, 1998), our data do not support the genetic variance hypotheses, because the colonies with the highest number of artificially generated subfamilies produced fewer drones than all other groups and had a lower efficacy in drone production per day life span. This suggests that genotypic diversity in queenless honey bee colonies reduces fitness.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 68%

“…Mattila and Seeley, 2007 among others), our data suggest a detrimental effect of genotypic diversity on colony fitness in hopelessly queenless colonies. Depending on the naturally occurring frequency of hopelessly queenless colonies (Hepburn 1994) and on the actual contribution of laying workers to population fitness (Moritz et al, 1998), this supports the view that other more proximate factors such as sperm limitation (Kraus et al, 2004) may be feasible alternative explanations for the evolution of extreme polyandry in honey bees. Alternatively, but not mutually exclusive, queenless honey bee colonies might be special with respect to reproduction.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 55%

“…Supporting evidence is provided by Hepburn (1994) showing that at least 8% of the colonies observed over a five year period became hopelessly queenless and eventually dwindled. Despite these obvious advantages of hopelessly queenless colonies as a model system to understand the evolution of extreme polyandry in honey bees, to our knowledge, no single study has addressed the potential impact of genotypic diversity on their fitness.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 85%

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Genotypic diversity in queenless honey bee colonies reduces fitness

Bratkowski¹,

Pirk²,

Neumann³

et al. 2012

Journal of Apicultural Research

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SummaryHoney bee queens mate with many males. The resulting genotypic diversity appears to enhance fitness of queenright colonies (those colonies with a reproductive queen present) which is difficult to measure, because measures of long-term fitness include successful matings of produced male sexuals (drones) and number of surviving swarms. The fitness of queenless colonies is, however, limited to worker-produced adult drones until natural colony death. Here we test the impact of genotypic diversity on fitness of queenless honey bee colonies, which were headed by queens inseminated with one, 10 and 20 drones or naturally mated. The data show that genetically diverse queenless colonies (20 subfamilies per colony) produced fewer adult drones, had a delayed onset of worker-derived drone flight activity, and a lower efficacy in drone production / per day colony life span compared to all other groups. Our data suggest that genotypic diversity may reduce fitness of queenless honey bee colonies, probably due to reproductive conflicts among subfamilies after queenloss.La diversidad genotípica en colonias de la abeja de la miel sin reinas reduce la aptitud biológica Resumen Las reinas de la abeja de la miel se aparean con muchos individuos masculinos. La diversidad genotípica resultante parece mejorar la aptitud biológica de las colonias con una reina presente (es decir, aquellas colonias con una reina reproductiva presente), lo cual es difícil de medir, ya que las medidas de la aptitud biológica a largo plazo incluyen los apareamientos exitosos de los machos producidos (zánganos) y el número de enjambres supervivientes. Sin embargo, la aptitud biológica de las colonias sin reina está limitada a los zánganos adultos producidos por obreras hasta la muerte natural de la colonia. Aquí ponemos a prueba el impacto de la diversidad genotípica en la aptitud biológica de colonias de abejas sin reina, que fueron gobernadas por reinas inseminadas con uno, 10 y 20 zánganos o apareadas de forma natural. Los datos muestran que las colonias sin reina genéticamente diversas (con 20 subfamilias por colonia) produjeron menos zánganos adultos, tuvieron un retraso en la aparición de la actividad de vuelo de los zánganos producidos por obreras, y una menor eficacia en la producción de zánganos por día de vida de la colonia en comparación con los demás grupos. Nuestros datos sugieren que la diversidad genotípica puede reducir la aptitud de las colonias de abejas sin reina, probablemente debido a los conflictos reproductivos entre subfamilias después de la pérdida de la reina.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 68%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 55%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 85%

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Genotypic diversity in queenless honey bee colonies reduces fitness

Bratkowski¹,

Pirk²,

Neumann³

et al. 2012

Journal of Apicultural Research

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“…Laying workers produce female offspring parthenogenetically (Anderson, 1963) and can establish themselves as pseudoqueens in queenless colonies (Velthuis et al, 1990;Hepburn, 1994;Hepburn andRadloff, 1999, 2002). The latter trait enables these workers to parasitise other colonies, which is the biological basis for the so called "Capensis calamity" (Allsopp, 1992).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Population dynamics of the Cape bee phenomenon: The impact of parasitic laying worker clones in apiaries and natural populations

Moritz

2002

Apidologie

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-A population ecological host-parasite model is used to evaluate the potential impact of clonal parasitic laying workers of the Cape honeybee, Apis mellifera capensis on populations of Apis mellifera scutellata host colonies in apiaries and in the wild. The model includes three basic life history parameters: reproductive rate of the host colonies, transmission efficiency of the parasite and the death rate of parasitised colonies. The population dynamics of host and parasites are computed for 100 generations after an initial infestation with parasitic workers. The model reveals that infestations are likely to be fatal for apiary populations irrespective of beekeeping activities compensating for colony losses due to parasitation. Wild A. m. scutellata populations are however less likely to be affected by parasitic laying workers and stable equilibria between host and parasite occur over a wide range of the parameter space. Although it is unlikely that the parasitic clone represents a threat to the conservation of biodiversity, even low frequencies of parasitic A. m. capensis workers in wild honeybee population can cause a permanent threat to beekeeping activities.Cape honeybee / Apis mellifera capensis / parasitic worker / population model / biodiversity / apiculture

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“…Queenless workers exposed to brood, particularly uncapped brood, show very little ovarian development [25,26,29,30,35]. Besides queen and brood pheromones, laying workers and pseudoqueens also partially inhibit ovarian development in their nestmates [14,31,49,58].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Honeybee queen tergal gland secretion affects ovarian development in caged workers

Wossler

Crewe

1999

Apidologie

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-The inhibitory effects of honeybee queen tergal gland secretion on worker ovarian development was studied using a laboratory bioassay with the honeybee races Apis mellifera capensis and A. m. scutellata. Glass pseudoqueens were treated with daily doses of tergal gland extracts from virgin queens and exposed to queenless experimental groups of caged workers. The control groups of queenless caged workers were exposed to solvent controls. Analysis using loglinear models showed that there were no interactions between treatment, race and cage, with respect to the frequency of developing ovaries. The response was homogeneous among cages and among the two races. The virgin queen tergal gland extracts of both A. m. capensis and A. m. scutellata inhibited ovarian development in their own workers (χ 2 = 8.28; df = 1; P = 0.004). These results indicate that the secretion from the tergal glands can operate as a primer pheromone. © Inra/DIB/AGIB/Elsevier, Paris Apis mellifera / worker reproduction / ovarian development / queen pheromone

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Reproductive cycling and hierarchical competition in Cape honeybees, Apis mellifera capensis Esch

Cited by 20 publications

References 8 publications

Genotypic diversity in queenless honey bee colonies reduces fitness

Genotypic diversity in queenless honey bee colonies reduces fitness

Population dynamics of the Cape bee phenomenon: The impact of parasitic laying worker clones in apiaries and natural populations

Honeybee queen tergal gland secretion affects ovarian development in caged workers

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