Jones, Ben, Shipley, Emily and Arnold, Kathryn E orcid.org/0000-0002-6485-6065 (2018) Social immunity in honeybees-Density dependence, diet, and body mass trade-offs. Ecology and Evolution. pp. 4852-4859. ISSN 2045-7758
Abstract
Group living is favorable to pathogen spread due to the increased risk of disease transmission among individuals. Similar to individual immune defenses, social immunity, that is antiparasite defenses mounted for the benefit of individuals other than the actor, is predicted to be altered in social groups. The eusocial honey bee (Apis mellifera) secretes glucose oxidase (GOX), an antiseptic enzyme, throughout its colony, thereby providing immune protection to other individuals in the hive. We conducted a laboratory experiment to investigate the effects of group density on social immunity, specifically GOX activity, body mass and feeding behavior in caged honey bees. Individual honeybees caged in a low group density displayed increased GOX activity relative to those kept at a high group density. In addition, we provided evidence for a trade-off between GOX activity and body mass: Individuals caged in the low group density had a lower body mass, despite consuming more food overall. Our results provide the first experimental evidence that group density affects a social immune response in a eusocial insect. Moreover, we showed that the previously reported trade-off between immunity and body mass extends to social immunity. GOX production appears to be costly for individuals, and potentially the colony, given that low body mass is correlated with small foraging ranges in bees. At high group densities, individuals can invest less in social immunity than at low densities, while presumably gaining shared protection from infection. Thus, there is evidence that trade-offs at the individual level (GOX vs. body mass) can affect colony-level fitness.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2018 The Authors. |
Keywords: | Journal Article |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Environment and Geography (York) |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 27 Jun 2018 09:10 |
Last Modified: | 16 Oct 2024 14:51 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4011 |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1002/ece3.4011 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:132659 |
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Description: Social immunity in honeybees—Density dependence, diet, and body mass trade-offs
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