Maternal effects on brood development in the bumble bee (Bombus impatiens)

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

10:24 AM – 10:36 AM PT

Location: Vancouver Convention Centre, Meeting Room 114/115

Presenting Author(s)

CP

Claudineia Pereira Costa

Postdoctoral Researcher
University of California
Riverside, California

Co-Author(s)

YD

Yadira Diaz

University of California
Riverside, California
Blanca M. Ortega

Ph.D Student
University of California
Riverside, California
Natalie Fisher

Ph.D. candidate
University of California
Riverside, California
GB

Guy Bloch

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Jerusalem, HaDarom, Israel
NY

Naoki Yamanaka

Associate Professor
University of California
Riverside, California
SW

S Hollis Woodard

Assistant Professor of Entomology
University of California
Riverside, California

One of the defining traits of eusociality is the presence of overlapping generations (parents and offspring) in the nest. For this reason, parental care has been recognized as an essential prerequisite for eusociality. The annually eusocial insects exhibit both maternal and alloparental care and undergo a life history transition where first a parent (the queen) rears offspring, followed by sibling care once workers are present in the nest. In the initial stages of the colony development, queens progressively feed larvae, then cease all behavior-related brood care after workers emerge in the nest, and these helpers begin to care for their siblings. Here, we explored social influences on larval development to identify how maternal and sibling brood care impact the developmental fate of workers in the bumble bee Bombus impatiens. We found that queens influence larvae such that they ultimately develop into smaller-bodied workers that are also more resistant to starvation, the latter of which might be beneficial for early nesting success. Surprisingly, we found the same pattern in male offspring, suggesting that the effect of the queen operates similarly irrespective of the sex of the offspring. These findings corroborate the hypothesis that bumble bee queens have a unique influence on developing the first offspring in the nest, which they rear, relative to worker-reared workers. We propose that bumble bee brood care has been shaped by a suite of evolutionary and ecological factors, including a maternal influence on traits that promote the survival of incipient colonies.