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Percent lipid is associated with body size but not task in the bumble bee Bombus impatiens

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 11:24 authored by Margaret J Couvillon, Jennifer M Jandt, Jennifer Bonds, Bryan R Helm, Anna Dornhaus
In some group-living organisms, labor is divided among individuals. This allocation to particular tasks is frequently stable and predicted by individual physiology. Social insects are excellent model organisms in which to investigate the interplay between physiology and individual behavior, as division of labor is an important feature within colonies, and individual physiology varies among the highly related individuals of the colony. Previous studies have investigated what factors are important in determining how likely an individual is, compared to nestmates, to perform certain tasks. One such task is foraging. Corpulence (i.e., percent lipid) has been shown to determine foraging propensity in honey bees and ants, with leaner individuals being more likely to be foragers. Is this a general trend across all social insects? Here we report data analyzing the individual physiology, specifically the percent lipid, of worker bumble bees (Bombus impatiens) from whom we also analyze behavioral task data. Bumble bees are also unusual among the social bees in that workers may vary widely in size. Surprisingly we find that, unlike other social insects, percent lipid is not associated with task propensity. Rather, body size closely predicts individual relative lipid stores, with smaller worker bees being allometrically fatter than larger worker bees

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

Journal of Comparative Physiology A

ISSN

0340-7594

Publisher

Springer Verlag

Issue

11

Volume

197

Page range

1097-1104

Department affiliated with

  • Evolution, Behaviour and Environment Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2012-05-09

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2012-04-24

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