The Trade-Off Between the Increased Colony Nurturing Ability and the Decreased Lifespan of Worker Bees (Apis mellifera)

• Published in: Insects (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 16; no. 6; p. 558
• Main Authors: Sun, Chaoxia, Huang, Hongji, Yang, Mei, Ma, Guoshuai, Huang, Xinyao, Huang, Shaokang, Duan, Xinle, Li, Jianghong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 24.05.2025; MDPI
• Subjects: adult bees; Age; Animals; Apis mellifera; Bees; Body temperature; Climate change; Colonies; colony temperature; Comparative analysis; Environmental aspects; Enzymes; Eusociality; Evolution; Fatty acids; Gene expression; Genes; Genetic aspects; Global warming; Growth; High temperature; Honey; Honeybee; Hypopharyngeal gland; Insects; Life span; Lipid metabolism; Lipids; longevity; Measurement; Metabolism; Nursing; nurturing capability; Physiological aspects; Room temperature; Royal jelly; Survivability; Survival; Temperature; Temperature requirements; Tradeoffs; Transcriptomes; Up-regulation; Workers (insect caste); Young adults; China; Shanghai China; longevity; nurturing capability; adult bees; colony temperature; lipid metabolism

High temperature is normally harmful to an organism. However, honey bees evolve, maintaining a relatively higher colony temperature of 34.5 °C in the long reproduction period. To determine the effect of such a higher colony temperature on adult bees and its biological significance, newly emerged bee...