Queen bees fetch honest signal to worker bee about their reproductive condition and tone , accord to an external team of researcher , who say their findings might help to excuse whyHoney - bee populations are declining .
“ We usually cogitate of creature ’ chemical signals ( called pheromone ) as communication systems that convey only very round-eyed sorts of entropy , ” said Christina Grozinger , professor of bugology and manager of the Center for Pollinator Research at Penn State University . “ However , this study demonstrates thatqueen Honey beesare conveying a fortune of nuanced info through their pheromones .
“ In addition , until now , no one have sex if queen bees were manipulating proletarian into serving them or if they were providing worthful , fair information to proletarian . We have found that the info fag are fetch constitute an honest message about their procreative status and quality . The queens are ‘ telling ’ the workers that they are queer , whether or not they are mated , and how well - mated they are . In other words , whether or not they have mate with a lot of males . ”
Why do prole bees care if their queen is well - paired ? According to postdoctoral companion Elina Niño , former enquiry has shown that colonies head by more promiscuous queens ( i.e. , those who mate with many males ) are moregenetically diverseand , therefore , healthier , more rich and less probable tocollapse .
“ Beekeepershave been very worried about their queens since they seem to not be live as long — a few week or months instead of one or two age , ” Niño says . “ We jazz that worker will replace their queens when they are not performing well . So if worker bees are able to discover poorly mated queens and take steps to hit them , that could be an explanation for the speedy rates of queen loss and turnover that beekeepers have been account . ”
The researcher , who represent Penn State , North Carolina State University and Tel Aviv University , describe how they designate female monarch bee to a variety of treatment grouping . They describe their findings in the Nov. 13 , 2013 , issuing of PLOS ONE .
In one chemical group , they inseminated queens with a small mass of semen to mimic a ill mated queen scenario . In a second mathematical group , the researchers sow in queens with a expectant volume of cum to mime a well - mated poof scenario . In a third and fourth grouping , they inseminated queen with low and high volumes of saline . A fifth group was an untreated dominance .
The research worker then dissected the queen bees , removing two glands that are known to produce pheromone — the mandibular secretory organ and the Dufour ’s secretory organ . Next , the squad extracted the glands ’ secretions and analyzed their chemic physical composition using accelerator chromatography - hatful spectrometry . Finally , the research worker presented the secretor extracts to worker bees and observed the extent to which they were attracted to dissimilar selection .
The squad find that worker bees preferent pheromone extract of queens that were sow in with semen rather than saline solution . They also bump that queens inseminated with higher volumes of semen or saline as oppose to those that were inseminate with low volumes of seed or saline solution were preferred by worker bees .
“ These results advise that queen are indicate detailed and honest information about their mating nation and reproductive quality to workers , and workers are subject of adjusting their demeanour consequently , ” Niño says . “ When worker replace failing queens , it is particularly prejudicious to beekeepers since it can take up to three week for the new queen to begin lay eggs and another three weeks for the new workers to emerge as adults . This reduces the workforce and therefore reduceshoney productionand even pollination efficiency . ”
The squad also found that the inframaxillary gland and the Dufour ’s gland differ in their functions .
“ The Dufour ’s gland seems to inform worker that queens have mated , while the mandibular gland seems to indicate the queen ’s mating timber , ” Niño says . “ This also means that these gland are likely being regulated via different neurophysiological pathways . ”
According to Grozinger , in addition to signaling queen - bee generative status and quality , queen - bee pheromone shape how libertine workers mature and transition from taking maintenance of developing larva to foraging outside the hive .
“ It is possible that change the quality of the pheromone could disrupt this and other mental process , which could have large - ordered series effects on settlement arrangement and survival of the fittest , ” she says .
Through financial backing from the USDA , the researchers are begin to examine the essence of viruses , pesticide and poor sustenance on faggot pheromone quality to see if the tabby also is providing workers with information about her health .
“ The more we live about what regard the pansy ’s health the better opportunity we will have of create high - calibre queens and disease - insubordinate caudex of Honey bees , ” Niño says .
