Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
the dancing bees. All bees were processed, analyzed for allozyme mark-
ers, and assigned to colony subfamilies. We found striking dif erences
in the behavioral proi les for workers from dif erent paternal subfami-
lies (Figure 3.5).
In another series of experiments, Claudia Dreller, a postdoctoral re-
searcher in my lab, sampled returning foragers from a natural nest of
feral honey bees. Using a set of genetic markers, she found that as in the
previous study, pollen and nectar foragers dif ered with respect to the
repre sen ta tion of the dif erent subfamilies of the colony, thus demon-
strating the same phenomenon in a naturally occurring nest with a
naturally mated queen.
3.6 Behavioral Plasticity and Constraints
Nick Calderone also performed a cross-fostering experiment with the
high- and low-pollen-hoarding strains produced by Hellmich and
Rothenbuhler. He placed newly emerged high- and low-strain workers
in high- and low-strain colonies and waited for them to forage. Forag-
ing behavior dif ered for high- and low-strain bees in both colony envi-
ronments. High-strain bees were always more likely to collect pollen.
High- and low-strain bees also dif ered in their behavior depending on
whether they were in high- or low-strain colonies. h is demonstrated
that they were responding to stimuli in the nest. High-strain bees in-
creased their pollen foraging in low-strain colonies, while low-strain
bees decreased their pollen foraging in high-strain colonies, showing
behavioral plasticity. h is is also a demonstration of the amplii cation
of dif erences in behavior of bees of dif erent genetic makeup due to
dif erences in the stimulus environment. Amplii cation increases spe-
cialization among nestmates. In this case, dif erences in the nest envi-
ronments were consequences of the genotypic composition of the
colonies—the “nature of nurture.” Dif erences between high- and low-
strain foragers were much greater in the high-strain colonies, where
high-strain bees were 21 times more likely to return with a load of pol-
len, than when they were raised in low-strain colonies, where they were
only 2 times more likely to return with a pollen load.
