Honey bee queens produce a complex olfactory signal, the queen pheromone, which
ID: 178072 • Letter: H
Question
Honey bee queens produce a complex olfactory signal, the queen pheromone, which they use either to control the workers, forcing them to keep working for the queen, or to provide accurate information about the reproductive state of the queen, making it adaptive for workers to be altruists (by helping them determine that the queen is capable of producing many siblings of the workers). Which of these hypotheses is more congruent with the logic of natural selection theory? Which hypothesis is supported by the discovery that components of the queen pheromone are related to the volume of sperm stored in the queen and her ovarian function? For a full and fair evaluation of the two competing hypotheses, see Kocher and Grozinger.
Explanation / Answer
Queen honey bee produces the pheromone an ‘honest signal’ that provides information on her presence, mating status, behavioral state quality of mating and responses of worker bees to the pheromone blend vary accordingly. Infact, worker responses to queen pheromone also vary, whichdepends on workers’ reproductive potential. As per recent studies, male honey bees respond to sex as well as social hormones. Actually this can modify their physiology and maturation rates.
The control hypothesis is founded on the premise that queens are attempting to maximize their reproductive success by keeping their workers on task, (i.e., helping the queens reproduce, as this would be favored by natural selection). The hypothesis does, however, suggest that workers can be forced to act in ways that reduce their inclusive fitness even though those actions raise their mother’s direct fitness. The honest information hypothesis is based on inclusive fitness or kin selection theory. This hypothesis suggests that queens induce workers to behave in ways that are to the advantage of both queens and workers; healthy queens gain by making it adaptive for their worker daughters to produce future queens with a strong allied work force, while workers gain indirect fitness by increasing the odds of producing a new queen with a good chance of founding a viable colony. The second hypothesis gains support from the finding that queen pheromone could convey information about the degree to which the queen has the sperm needed to fertilize many eggs and the ovaries needed produce those eggs.
The hypothesiswhich states that queen bees want to maximize their reproductive success bycontrolling the worker bees on task, (i.e., helping the queens in reproduction, and natural selection favors it). The hypothesis suggest that workers are forced to act in that particular way that may harm their fitness even though those actions are directly important to mother.
While the next hypothesis according to which is based on kin selection theory. As per this, queens influence the workers to behave in such a way that benefits both queens and workers. Healthy queens makes the whole game adaptive for their worker daughtersin order to produce future queens as well as a strong allied work force. Along with this ,workers will get indirect fitness by increasing the chances of producing a new queen. Thus the second hypothesis is more plausible and is reinforced by the finding that queen pheromone could communicate regarding thow much sperm is needed to fertilize many eggs in queen bee and how much ovaries are required for producing the eggs.
Related Questions
Navigate
Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.