The appeasement effect of sterility signaling in dominance contests among Bombus terrestris workers

Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology

Volumn 64, Issue 10, 2010, Pages 1685-1694

  Amsalem, Etya ^a   Hefetz, Abraham ^a  

^a TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY   (Israel)

Author keywords

Aggression; Bombus terrestris; Dufour's gland; Reproductive competition; Sterility signal

Indexed keywords

AGGRESSION; BEE; BIOENERGETICS; CONTEST COMPETITION; DOMINANCE; ESTER; EUSOCIALITY; LABOR DIVISION; PHEROMONE; REPRODUCTIVE COST; SIGNALING; STERILITY; WORKER CASTE;

APOIDEA; BOMBUS TERRESTRIS; HEXAPODA;

EID: 77956781944     PISSN: 03405443     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s00265-010-0982-4     Document Type: Article

References (48)

1. Alaux C, Jaisson P, Hefetz A (2004) Queen influence on worker reproduction in bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) colonies. Insect Soc 51: 287-293.
2. Alaux C, Jaisson P, Hefetz A (2006) Regulation of worker reproduction in bumblebees (Bombus terrestris): workers eavesdrop on a queen signal. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 60: 439-446.
3. Amsalem E, Twele R, Francke W, Hefetz A (2009) Reproductive competition in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris: do workers advertise sterility? Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 276: 1295-1304.
4. Bhadra A, Iyer PL, Sumana A, Deshpande SA, Ghosh S, Gadagkar R (2007) How do workers of the primitively eusocial wasp Ropalidia marginata detect the presence of their queens? J Theor Biol 246: 574-582.
5. Bloch G, Hefetz A (1999) Regulation of reproduction by dominant workers in bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) queenright colonies. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 45: 125-135.
6. Bloch G, Borst DW, Huang ZY, Robinson GE, Hefetz A (1996) Effects of social conditions on juvenile hormone mediated reproductive development in Bombus terrestris workers. Physiol Entomol 21: 257-267.
7. Bourke AFG (1994) Worker matricide in social bee and wasps. J Theor Biol 167: 283-292.
8. Bourke AFG, Ratnieks FLW (2001) Kin-selected conflict in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 268: 347-355.
9. Cant MA, Llop JB, Field J (2006) Individual variation in social aggression and the probability of inheritance: theory and a field test. Am Nat 167: 837-852.
10. Cnaani J, Schmid-Hempel R, Schmidt JO (2002) Colony development, larval development and worker reproduction in Bombus impatiens cresson. Insect Soc 49: 164-170.
11. Cuvillier-Hot V, Gadagkar R, Peeters C, Cobb M (2002) Regulation of reproduction in a queenless ant: aggression, pheromones and reduction in conflict. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 269: 1295-1300.
12. Cuvillier-Hot V, Lenoir A, Crewe R, Malosse C, Peeters C (2004) Fertility signaling and reproductive skew in queenless ants. Anim Behav 68: 1209-1219.
13. Dronnet S, Simon X, Verhaeghe JC, Rasmont P, Errard C (2005) Bumblebee inquilinism in Bombus (fernaldaepsithyrus) sylvestris (Hymenoptera, Apidae): behavioral and chemical analyses of host-parasite interactions. Apidologie 36: 59-70.
14. Duchateau MJ (1989) Agonistic behaviors in colonies of the bumblebee Bombus terrestris. J Ethol 7: 141-152.
15. Endler A, Holldobler B, Liebig J (2007) Lack of physical policing and fertility cues in egg-laying workers of the ant Camponotus floridanus. Anim Behav 74: 1171-1180.
16. Free JB (1955) The division of labor within bumblebees colonies. Insect Soc 2: 195-212.
17. Gobin B, Billen J, Peeters C (1999) Policing behavior towards virgin egg layers in a polygynous ponerine ant. Anim Behav 58: 1117-1122.
18. Hamilton WD (1964) The genetical evolution of social behavior. I, II. J Theor Biol 7: 1-52.
19. Hammond RL, Keller L (2004) Conflict over male parentage in social insects. PLoS Biol 2: 1472-1482.
20. Innocent TM, West SA (2006) Social evolution: cooperation by conflict. Curr Biol 16: R365-R367.
21. Ito F (1993) Functional monogyny and dominance hierarchy in the queenless ponerine ant Pachycondyla (equals Bothroponera) sp. in West Java, Indonesia (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Ponerinae). Ethology 95: 126-140.
22. Keller L, Nonacs P (1993) The role of queen pheromones in social insects: queen control or queen signal? Anim Behav 45: 787-794.
23. Kikuta N, Tsuji K (1999) Queen and worker policing in the monogynous and monandrous ant, Diacamma sp. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 46: 180-189.
24. Kravitz EA, Huber R (2003) Aggression in invertebrates. Curr Opin Neurobiol 13: 736-743.
25. Lamba S, Kazi YC, Deshpande S, Natesh M, Bhadra A, Gadagkar R (2007) A possible novel function of dominance behavior in queen-less colonies of the primitively eusocial wasp Ropalidia marginata. Behav Process 74: 351-356.
26. Le Conte Y, Hefetz A (2008) Primer pheromones in social hymenoptera. Annu Rev Entomol 53: 523-542.
27. Liebig J, Peeters C, Holldobler B (1999) Worker policing limits the number of reproductives in a ponerine ant. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 266: 1865-1870.
28. Lopez-Vaamonde C, Koning JW, Brown RM, Jordan WC, Bourke AFG (2004) Social parasitism by male-producing reproductive workers in a eusocial insect. Nature 430: 557-560.
29. Malka O, Snior S, Katzav-Gozansky T, Hefetz A (2008) Aggressive reproductive-competition among hopelessly queenless honeybee workers triggered by pheromone signaling. Naturwissenschaften 95: 553-559.
30. Molina Y, O'Donnell S (2009) Worker reproductive competition affects division of labor in a primitively social paperwasp (Polistes instabilis). Insect Soc 56: 14-20.
31. Monnin T, Peeters C (1999) Dominance hierarchy and reproductive conflicts among subordinates in a monogynous queenless ant. Behav Ecol 10: 323-332.
32. Moritz RFA, Simon UE, Crewe RM (2000) Pheromonal contest between honeybee workers (Apis mellifera capensis). Naturwissenschaften 87: 395-397.
33. Oliveira PS, Hoelldobler B (1990) Dominance orders in the ponerine ant Pachycondyla apicalis (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 27: 385-394.
34. Plettner E, Slessor KN, Winston ML, Robinson GE, Page RE (1993) Mandibular gland components and ovarian development as measures of caste differentiation in the honeybee (Apis mellifera L.). J Insect Physiol 39: 235-240.
35. Premnath S, Sionha A, Gadagkar R (1996) Dominance relationship in the establishment of reproductive division of labor in a primitively eusocial wasp (Ropalidia marginata). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 39: 125-132.
36. Reeve HK (1991) Polistes. The social biology of wasps, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.
37. Roseler PF (1977) Juvenile hormone control of oogenesis in bumblebee workers, Bombus terrestris. J Insect Physiol 23: 985-992.
38. Roseler PF, van-Honk CGJ (1990) Cast and reproduction in bumblebees. In: Engels W (ed) Social insects: an evolutionary approach to castes and reproduction. Springer Verlag, Berlin, pp 147-166.
39. Roseler PF, Roseler I, van Honk CGJ (1981) Evidence for inhibition of corpora allata in workers of Bombus terrestris by a pheromone from the queen's mandibular gland. Experientia 37: 348-351.
40. Solomon NG, French JA (1997) Cooperative breeding in mammals. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
41. Stacey PB, Koenig WD (1990) Cooperative breeding in birds. Long term studies of ecology and behavior. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
42. Sumana A, Gadagkar R (2003) Ropalidia marginata-a primitively eusocial wasp society headed by behaviorally non-dominant queens. Curr Sci 84: 1464-1468.
43. van Doorn A (1989) Factors influencing dominance behavior in queenless bumblebee workers Bombus terrestris. Physiol Entomol 14: 211-222.
44. van Doorn A, Heringa J (1986) The ontogeny of a dominance hierarchy in colonies of the bumblebee Bombus terrestris (Hymenoptera, Apidae). Insect Soc 33: 3-25.
45. van Honk CGJ, Hogeweg P (1981) The ontogeny of the social structure in a captive Bombus terrestris colony. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 9: 111-119.
46. van Honk CGJ, Velthuis HHW, Roseler PF, Malotaux ME (1980) The mandibular glands of Bombus terrestris queens as a source of queen pheromone. Entomol Exp Appl 28: 191-198.
47. van Honk CJK, Roeseler PF, Velthuis HHW, Hogeveen JC (1981) Factors influencing egg laying of workers in a captive Bombus terrestris colony. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 9: 9-14.
48. Vargo EL, Passera L (1991) Pheromonal and behavioral queen control over the production of gynes in the Argentine ant Iridomyrmex humilis (Mayr). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 28: 161-170.