Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 16, 2025
08:36
Empirical, Metagenomic, and Computational Techniques Illuminate the Mechanisms by which Fungicides Compromise Bee Health
Published on: October 9, 2017
9.9K
Early resources lead to persistent benefits for bumble bee colony dynamics
Rosemary L Malfi1, Elizabeth Crone2, Maj Rundlöf1,3
1Department of Entomology, University of California, Davis, California, 95616, USA.
Ecology
|October 17, 2021
Summary
Early resource availability significantly boosts bumble bee colony growth and queen production, demonstrating lasting impacts of developmental conditions on pollinator populations.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Evolutionary Biology
- Animal Behavior
Background:
- Developmental conditions can have long-lasting effects on individual and population performance.
- Demographic theories suggest past resource availability influences future population dynamics, but experimental evidence is limited.
- Carry-over effects across generations or cohorts are crucial for understanding ecological persistence.
Purpose of the Study:
- To experimentally investigate the persistent effects of resource timing on bumble bee colony dynamics.
- To determine if early versus late resource pulses differentially impact worker cohort performance and colony growth.
- To assess the influence of resource timing on reproductive output, specifically queen production.
Main Methods:
- Field colonies of bumble bees were subjected to simulated resource pulses at different developmental stages (early vs. late).
- Colony growth rates were measured during both resource-supplemented and unsupplemented periods.
- The number of queen offspring produced by each colony was quantified.
Main Results:
- Colonies receiving resources early in development exhibited faster growth rates during non-supplemented periods compared to late-pulse colonies.
- Early-pulse colonies achieved larger overall sizes.
- Early resource availability led to significantly higher production of queen offspring.
Conclusions:
- Past resource availability exerts persistent effects on current colony growth and dynamics in bumble bees.
- Resource timing is a critical factor influencing not only colony success but also population-level dynamics of key pollinators.
- Transient ecological dynamics, driven by resource availability, play a vital role in natural systems.
Related Concept Videos
00:57Inclusive Fitness
36.4K
Most altruistic behavior—in which one animal helps another at a cost to themselves—occurs between relatives. Scientists think these altruistic behaviors evolved because they increase the inclusive fitness of the animal providing help.
36.4K
02:07Conservation of Declining Populations
10.4K
Conservation of declining population focuses on ways of detecting, diagnosing, and halting a population decline. The approach uses methods to prevent populations from going extinct.
10.4K
00:51Energy Budgets
9.8K
Organisms must balance energy intake with the energy required for growth, maintenance and reproduction. These trade-offs result in a variety of survivorship and reproductive strategies, including semelparity and iteroparity. Semelparous species, like annual plants, have only one reproductive episode in their lifetimes and consequently have short lifespans. Iteroparous species, by contrast, have many reproductive events during their lifetimes but have relatively few offspring. These two...
9.8K
01:03Altruism
41.7K
Altruistic behaviors are “unselfish” behaviors—those that help another individual at the expense of the individual carrying out the behavior. Despite the negative consequences for the altruistic animal, these behaviors are thought to have evolved for several reasons.
41.7K
01:21Frequency-dependent Selection
22.4K
When the fitness of a trait is influenced by how common it is (i.e., its frequency) relative to different traits within a population, this is referred to as frequency-dependent selection. Frequency-dependent selection may occur between species or within a single species. This type of selection can either be positive—with more common phenotypes having higher fitness—or negative, with rarer phenotypes conferring increased fitness.
22.4K
02:40Pollination and Flower Structure
72.5K
Flowers are the reproductive, seed-producing structures of angiosperms. Typically, flowers consist of sepals, petals, stamens, and carpels. Sepals and petals are the vegetative flower organs. Stamens and carpels are the reproductive organs.
72.5K