Browsing by Subject "Social immunity"
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Item Colony-level immunity benefits and behavioral mechanisms of resin collection by honey bees.(2010-10) Simone, Michael DominickThe general goal of this thesis is to understand the proximate and ultimate mechanisms of resin collection and use in honey bees, Apis mellifera. While there has been significant research on bee-collected resins with respect to human health and various chemical component analyses, this thesis provides the first review and studies on the direct implications of the role of resin in regard to honey bee health, and thus, pioneers a new area of research. I also provide novel information concerning the stimuli that may be involved in the recruitment of foragers and initiation of resin foraging. Overall my thesis provides the first evidence that resin collection is a form of social immunity in honey bees and may both have direct and indirect effects on individual immunity and colony health. I have also shed new light on the behavioral mechanisms that may be mediating this behavior at both the colony level (self-medication) and individual level (assessment of tactile information). I tested original hypotheses that led to new questions and opportunities for further research that will be conducted by me and others for a long period of time.Item Seasonal benefits of a natural propolis envelope to honey bee immunity and colony health(Company of Biologists, 2015) Borba, Renata S.; Klyczek, Karen K.; Mogen, Kim L.; Spivak, MarlaHoney bees, as social insects, rely on collective behavioral defenses that produce a colony-level immune phenotype, or social immunity, which in turn impacts the immune response of individuals. One behavioral defense is the collection and deposition of antimicrobial plant resins, or propolis, in the nest. We tested the effect of a naturally constructed propolis envelope within standard beekeeping equipment on the pathogen and parasite load of large field colonies, and on immune system activity, virus and storage protein levels of individual bees over the course of a year. The main effect of the propolis envelope was a decreased and more uniform baseline expression of immune genes in bees during summer and autumn months each year, compared with the immune activity in bees with no propolis envelope in the colony. The most important function of the propolis envelope may be to modulate costly immune system activity. As no differences were found in levels of bacteria, pathogens and parasites between the treatment groups, the propolis envelope may act directly on the immune system, reducing the bees’ need to activate the physiologically costly production of humoral immune responses. Colonies with a natural propolis envelope had increased colony strength and vitellogenin levels after surviving the winter in one of the two years of the study, despite the fact that the biological activity of the propolis diminished over the winter. A natural propolis envelope acts as an important antimicrobial layer enshrouding the colony, benefiting individual immunity and ultimately colony health.