TY - JOUR
T1 - Weak specialization of workers inside a bumble bee (Bombus impatiens) nest
AU - Jandt, Jennifer M.
AU - Huang, Eden
AU - Dornhaus, Anna
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgments We thank Root Gorelick for his help calculating the division of labor index. We thank Nicolas Skye Robbins, Amanda Barth, and Wendy Isner for their help in data collection and assistance with bumble bee maintenance. Margaret Couvillon, Tuan Cao, Nhi Duong, Annie Leonard, and Emily Jones provided useful feedback on the manuscript. This research was supported through the College of Science, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona.
PY - 2009/10
Y1 - 2009/10
N2 - Division of labor is common across social groups. In social insects, many studies focus on the differentiation of in-nest and foraging workers and/or the division of foraging tasks. Few studies have specifically examined how workers divide in-nest tasks. In the bumble bee, Bombus impatiens, we have shown previously that smaller workers are more likely to feed larvae and incubate brood, whereas larger workers are more likely to fan or guard the nest. Here, we show that in spite of this, B. impatiens workers generally perform multiple tasks throughout their life. The size of this task repertoire size does not depend on body size, nor does it change with age. Further, individuals were more likely to perform the task they had been performing on the previous day than any other task, a pattern most pronounced among individuals who guarded the nest. On the other hand, there was no predictable sequence of task switching. Because workers tend to remain in the same region of the nest over time, in-nest workers may concentrate on a particular task, or subset of tasks, inside that region. This division of space, then, may be an important mechanism that leads to this weak specialization among in-nest bumble bee workers.
AB - Division of labor is common across social groups. In social insects, many studies focus on the differentiation of in-nest and foraging workers and/or the division of foraging tasks. Few studies have specifically examined how workers divide in-nest tasks. In the bumble bee, Bombus impatiens, we have shown previously that smaller workers are more likely to feed larvae and incubate brood, whereas larger workers are more likely to fan or guard the nest. Here, we show that in spite of this, B. impatiens workers generally perform multiple tasks throughout their life. The size of this task repertoire size does not depend on body size, nor does it change with age. Further, individuals were more likely to perform the task they had been performing on the previous day than any other task, a pattern most pronounced among individuals who guarded the nest. On the other hand, there was no predictable sequence of task switching. Because workers tend to remain in the same region of the nest over time, in-nest workers may concentrate on a particular task, or subset of tasks, inside that region. This division of space, then, may be an important mechanism that leads to this weak specialization among in-nest bumble bee workers.
KW - Bombus impatiens
KW - Bumble bee
KW - Division of labor
KW - Division of labor index
KW - Task repertoire size
KW - Task specialization
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U2 - 10.1007/s00265-009-0810-x
DO - 10.1007/s00265-009-0810-x
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:77952674607
SN - 0340-5443
VL - 63
SP - 1829
EP - 1836
JO - Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
JF - Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
IS - 12
ER -