Self assessment in insects: honeybee queens know their own strength.
Contests mediate access to reproductive opportunities in almost all species of animals. An important aspect of the evolution of contests is the reduction of the costs incurred during intra-specific encounters to a minimum. However, escalated fights are commonly lethal in some species like the honeyb...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2008-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/18183293/?tool=EBI |
| _version_ | 1819017213348151296 |
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| author | Vincent Dietemann Huo-Qing Zheng Colleen Hepburn H Randall Hepburn Shui-Hua Jin Robin M Crewe Sarah E Radloff Fu-Liang Hu Christian W W Pirk |
| author_facet | Vincent Dietemann Huo-Qing Zheng Colleen Hepburn H Randall Hepburn Shui-Hua Jin Robin M Crewe Sarah E Radloff Fu-Liang Hu Christian W W Pirk |
| author_sort | Vincent Dietemann |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Contests mediate access to reproductive opportunities in almost all species of animals. An important aspect of the evolution of contests is the reduction of the costs incurred during intra-specific encounters to a minimum. However, escalated fights are commonly lethal in some species like the honeybee, Apis mellifera. By experimentally reducing honeybee queens' fighting abilities, we demonstrate that they refrain from engaging in lethal contests that typically characterize their reproductive dominance behavior and coexist peacefully within a colony. This suggests that weak queens exploit an alternative reproductive strategy and provides an explanation for rare occurrences of queen cohabitation in nature. Our results further indicate that self-assessment, but not mutual assessment of fighting ability occurs prior to and during the agonistic encounters. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T02:59:57Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-dc084f80c02f4cc6ac8d669c186d67f7 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T02:59:57Z |
| publishDate | 2008-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-dc084f80c02f4cc6ac8d669c186d67f72022-12-21T19:18:13ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032008-01-0131e141210.1371/journal.pone.0001412Self assessment in insects: honeybee queens know their own strength.Vincent DietemannHuo-Qing ZhengColleen HepburnH Randall HepburnShui-Hua JinRobin M CreweSarah E RadloffFu-Liang HuChristian W W PirkContests mediate access to reproductive opportunities in almost all species of animals. An important aspect of the evolution of contests is the reduction of the costs incurred during intra-specific encounters to a minimum. However, escalated fights are commonly lethal in some species like the honeybee, Apis mellifera. By experimentally reducing honeybee queens' fighting abilities, we demonstrate that they refrain from engaging in lethal contests that typically characterize their reproductive dominance behavior and coexist peacefully within a colony. This suggests that weak queens exploit an alternative reproductive strategy and provides an explanation for rare occurrences of queen cohabitation in nature. Our results further indicate that self-assessment, but not mutual assessment of fighting ability occurs prior to and during the agonistic encounters.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/18183293/?tool=EBI |
| spellingShingle | Vincent Dietemann Huo-Qing Zheng Colleen Hepburn H Randall Hepburn Shui-Hua Jin Robin M Crewe Sarah E Radloff Fu-Liang Hu Christian W W Pirk Self assessment in insects: honeybee queens know their own strength. PLoS ONE |
| title | Self assessment in insects: honeybee queens know their own strength. |
| title_full | Self assessment in insects: honeybee queens know their own strength. |
| title_fullStr | Self assessment in insects: honeybee queens know their own strength. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Self assessment in insects: honeybee queens know their own strength. |
| title_short | Self assessment in insects: honeybee queens know their own strength. |
| title_sort | self assessment in insects honeybee queens know their own strength |
| url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/18183293/?tool=EBI |
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