Honey bee (Apis mellifera) workers live longer in small than in large colonies

Experimental Gerontology

Volumn 44, Issue 6-7, 2009, Pages 447-452

  Rueppell, Olav ^a   Kaftanouglu, Osman ^b   Page Jr , Robert E ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT GREENSBORO   (United States)

^b ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Ageing; Biodemography; Colony growth; Mortality dynamics; Social insects; Sociality; Super organism

Indexed keywords

AGING; ARTICLE; BODY SIZE; DEMOGRAPHY; FORAGING; GROWTH; HONEYBEE; LIFE HISTORY; LIFESPAN; LONGEVITY; NONHUMAN; ORGANISM COLONY; PRIORITY JOURNAL; SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT; WORKER (INSECT); ANIMAL; ANIMAL BEHAVIOR; BEE; INSECT; LIFE CYCLE STAGE; PHYSIOLOGY; UNITED STATES;

APIS MELLIFERA; HEXAPODA;

AGING; ANIMALS; ARIZONA; BEES; BEHAVIOR, ANIMAL; INSECTS; LIFE CYCLE STAGES; LONGEVITY; SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT;

EID: 66049139071     PISSN: 05315565     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.exger.2009.04.003     Document Type: Article

References (37)

1. Amdam G.V., Nilsen K.A., Norberg K., Fondrk M.K., and Hartfelder K. Variation in endocrine signaling underlies variation in social life history. Am. Nat. 170 (2007) 37-46
2. Amdam, G.V., Rueppell, O., Fondrk, M.K., Page R.E. Jr., Nelson C.M. 2009. The nurse's load: early-life exposure to brood-rearing affects behavior and lifespan in honey bees (Apis mellifera). Exp. Gerontol., in press.
3. Arking R. The Biology of Aging. third ed. (2006), Oxford University Press, New York
4. Bourke A.F.G. Colony size, social complexity and reproductive conflict in social insects. J. Evol. Biol. 12 (1999) 245-257
5. Bourke A.F.G. Kin selection and the evolutionary theory of aging. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Systemat. 38 (2007) 103-128
6. Bourke A.F.G., and Franks N.R. Social Evolution in Ants (1995), Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ
7. Clemencet J., and Doums C. Habitat-related microgeographic variation of worker size and colony size in the ant Cataglyphis cursor. Oecologia 152 (2007) 211-218
8. de Magalhaes J.P., Costa J., and Church G.M. An analysis of the relationship between metabolism, developmental schedules, and longevity using phylogenetic independent contrasts. J. Gerontol. A 62 (2007) 149-160
9. Eckert C.D., Winston M.L., and Ydenberg R.C. The relationship between population size, amount of brood, and individual foraging behavior in the honey bee, Apis-mellifera L. Oecologia 97 (1994) 248-255
10. Finch C.E. Longevity, Senescence, and the Genome (1990), University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL
11. Fukuda H., and Sekiguchi K. Seasonal change of the honeybee worker longevity in Sapporo, north Japan, with notes on some factors affecting the life-span. Jpn. J. Ecol. 16 (1966) 206-212
12. Guzmán-Novoa E., Page Jr. R.E., and Gary N.E. Behavioral and life-history components of division of labor in honey bees (Apis mellifera L.). Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 34 (1994) 409-417
13. Harbo J.R. Effect of population size on brood production, worker survival and honey gain in colonies of honeybees. J. Apicult. Res. 25 (1986) 22-29
14. Hölldobler B., and Wilson E.O. The Ants (1990), The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
15. Hölldobler B., and Wilson E.O. The Superorganism: The Beauty Elegance and Strangeness of Insect Societies (2008), W.W. Norton, New York, NY
16. Houston A., Schmid-Hempel P., and Kacelnik A. Foraging strategy, worker mortality, and the growth of the colony in social insects. Am. Nat. 131 (1988) 107-114
17. Karsai I., and Wenzel J.W. Productivity, individual-level and colony-level flexibility, and organization of work as consequences of colony size. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95 (1998) 8665-8669
18. Kaspari M. Global energy gradients and size in colonial organisms, worker mass and worker number in ant colonies. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 102 (2005) 5079-5083
19. Kaspari M., and Vargo E.L. Colony size as a buffer against seasonality, Bergmann's rule in social insects. Am. Nat. 145 (1995) 610-632
20. Krause J., and Ruxton G. Living in Groups (2002), Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK
21. Miller R.A., Harper J.M., Galecki A., and Burke D.T. Big mice die young: early life body weight predicts longevity in genetically heterogeneous mice. Aging Cell 1 (2002) 22-29
22. Neukirch A. Dependence of the life span of the honeybee (Apis mellifica) upon flight performance and energy consumption. J. Comp. Physiol. 146 (1982) 35-40
23. O'Donnell S., and Jeanne R.L. The effects of colony characteristics on life-span and foraging behavior of individual wasps (Polybia occidentalis, Hymenoptera, Vespidae). Ins. Soc. 39 (1992) 73-80
24. Oster G.F., and Wilson E.O. Caste and Ecology in the Social Insects (1978), Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ
25. Page Jr. R.E., and Peng Y.-S.C. Aging and development in social insects with emphasis on the honey bee, Apis mellifera L. Exp. Gerontol. 36 (2001) 695-711
26. Patronek G.J., Waters D.J., and Glickman L.T. Comparative longevity of pet dogs and humans: Implications for gerontology research. J. Gerontol. A 52 (1997) B171-B178
27. Phelan J.P., and Rose M.R. Why dietary restriction substantially increases longevity in animal models but won't in humans. Ageing Res. Rev. 4 (2005) 339-350
28. Rueppell, O., Amdam, G.V., Page Jr., R.E., Carey, J.R., 2004. From genes to society: social insects as models for research on aging. Sci. Aging Knowl. Environ. 5, pe5.
29. Rueppell O., Bachelier C., Fondrk M.K., and Page Jr. R.E. Regulation of life history determines lifespan of worker honey bees (Apis mellifera L.). Exp. Gerontol. 42 (2007) 1020-1032
30. Rueppell O., Linford R., Gardner P., Coleman J., and Fine K. Aging and demographic plasticity in response to experimental age structures in honeybees (Apis mellifera L.). Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 62 (2008) 1621-1631
31. Sakagami S.F., and Fukuda H. Life tables for worker honeybees. Res. Popul. Ecol. 10 (1968) 127-139
32. Schmid-Hempel P., Kacelnik A., and Houston A.I. Honeybees maximize efficiency by not filling their crop. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 17 (1985) 61-66
33. Seeley T.D. The honey bee colony as a superorganism. Am. Sci. 77 (1989) 546-553
34. Strassmann J.E. Worker mortality and the evolution of castes in the social wasp Polistes exclamans. Insect. Soc. 32 (1985) 275-285
35. Wilson E.O. The Insect Societies (1971), The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
36. Winston M.L. Intra-colony demography and reproductive rate of the Africanized honeybee in South America. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 4 (1979) 279-292
37. Winston M.L. The Biology of the Honey Bee (1987), Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA