Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 6 October 1989:
Vol. 246. no. 4926, pp. 109 - 112
DOI: 10.1126/science.246.4926.109
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Hormonal and Genetic Control of Behavioral Integration in Honey Bee Colonies

GENE E. ROBINSON 1, ROBERT E. PAGE JR. 1, COLETTE STRAMBI 2, and ALAIN STRAMBI 2

1 Department of Entomology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210-1220.
2 Centre National Recherche Scientifique, Laboratoire de Neurobiologie, B. P. 71, 13402 Marseille Cedex 9, France.

The ability of insect colonies to adjust the division of labor among workers in response to changing environmental and colony conditions, coupled with research showing genetic effects on the division of labor in honey bee colonies, led to an investigation of the role of genetics and the environment in the integration of worker behavior. Measurements of juvenile hormone(JH) titers and allozyme analyses of worker honey bees suggest that two processes are involved in colony-level regulation of division of labor: (i) plasticity in age-dependent behavior is a consequence of modulation of JH titers by extrinsic factors, and (ii) stimuli that can affect JH titers and age-dependent behavior do elicit variable responses among genetically distinct subpopulations of workers within a colony. These results provide a new perspective on the developmental plasticity of insect colonies and support the emerging view that colony genetic structure affects behavioral organization.

Submitted on May 9, 1989
Accepted on August 15, 1989


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Impaired tactile learning is related to social role in honeybees.
R. Scheiner and G. V. Amdam (2009)
J. Exp. Biol. 212, 994-1002
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Honeybee memory: a honeybee knows what to do and when.
S. Zhang, S. Schwarz, M. Pahl, H. Zhu, and J. Tautz (2006)
J. Exp. Biol. 209, 4420-4428
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Division of labour and colony efficiency in social insects: effects of interactions between genetic architecture, colony kin structure and rate of perturbations.
M. Waibel, D. Floreano, S. Magnenat, and L. Keller (2006)
Proc R Soc B 273, 1815-1823
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Division of labor in the honey bee (Apis mellifera): the role of tyramine {beta}-hydroxylase.
H. K. Lehman, D. J. Schulz, A. B. Barron, L. Wraight, C. Hardison, S. Whitney, H. Takeuchi, R. K. Paul, and G. E. Robinson (2006)
J. Exp. Biol. 209, 2774-2784
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Nutritional status influences socially regulated foraging ontogeny in honey bees.
A. L. Toth, S. Kantarovich, A. F. Meisel, and G. E. Robinson (2005)
J. Exp. Biol. 208, 4641-4649
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Muscle biochemistry and the ontogeny of flight capacity during behavioral development in the honey bee, Apis mellifera.
S. P. Roberts and M. M. Elekonich (2005)
J. Exp. Biol. 208, 4193-4198
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Juvenile hormone, reproduction, and worker behavior in the neotropical social wasp Polistes canadensis.
T. Giray, M. Giovanetti, and M. J. West-Eberhard (2005)
PNAS 102, 3330-3335
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The Genetic Architecture of the Behavioral Ontogeny of Foraging in Honeybee Workers.
O. Rueppell, T. Pankiw, D. I. Nielsen, M. K. Fondrk, M. Beye, and R. E. Page Jr. (2004)
Genetics 167, 1767-1779
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
From Genes to Societies.
O. Rueppell, G. V. Amdam, R. E. Page Jr., and J. R. Carey (2004)
Sci. Aging Knowl. Environ. 2004, pe5-5
   Abstract »    Full Text »
The control of nest climate in bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) colonies: interindividual variability and self reinforcement in fanning response.
A. Weidenmuller (2004)
Behav. Ecol. 15, 120-128
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Behavioral Rhythmicity, Age, Division of Labor and period Expression in the Honey Bee Brain.
G. Bloch, D. P. Toma, and G. E. Robinson (2001)
J Biol Rhythms 16, 444-456
   Abstract »    PDF »
Experience- and Age-Related Outgrowth of Intrinsic Neurons in the Mushroom Bodies of the Adult Worker Honeybee.
S. M. Farris, G. E. Robinson, and S. E. Fahrbach (2001)
J. Neurosci. 21, 6395-6404
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Worker biting interactions and task performance in a swarm-founding eusocial wasp (Polybia occidentalis, Hymenoptera: Vespidae).
S. O'Donnell (2001)
Behav. Ecol. 12, 353-359
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Changes in period mRNA levels in the brain and division of labor in honey bee colonies.
D. P. Toma, G. Bloch, D. Moore, and G. E. Robinson (2000)
PNAS 97, 6914-6919
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Genetic variation in worker temporal polyethism and colony defensiveness in the honey bee, Apis mellifera.
T. Giray, E. Guzman-Novoa, C. W. Aron, B. Zelinsky, S. E. Fahrbach, and G. E. Robinson (2000)
Behav. Ecol. 11, 44-55
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Experience-Expectant Plasticity in the Mushroom Bodies of the Honeybee.
S. E. Fahrbach, D. Moore, E. A. Capaldi, S. M. Farris, and G. E. Robinson (1998)
Learn. Mem. 5, 115-123
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Activity-Dependent Changes to the Brain and Behavior of the Honey Bee, Apis mellifera (L.).
D. Sigg, C. M. Thompson, and A. R. Mercer (1997)
J. Neurosci. 17, 7148-7156
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Behavioral development in the honey bee: toward the study of learning under natural conditions..
S E Fahrbach and G E Robinson (1995)
Learn. Mem. 2, 199-224
   PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)