BEHAVIORAL AND LIFE-HISTORY COMPONENTS OF DIVISION-OF-LABOR IN HONEY-BEES (APIS-MELLIFERA L)

Variability exists among worker honey bees for components of division of labor. These components are of two types, those that affect foragin g behavior and those that affect life-history characteristics of worke rs. Variable foraging behavior components are: the probability that fo raging workers collect (1) pollen only; (2) nectar only; and (3) polle n and nectar on the same trip. Life history components are: (1) the ag e the workers initiate foraging behavior; (2) the length of the foragi ng life of a worker; and (3) worker length of life. We show how these components may interact to change the social organization of honey bee colonies and the lifetime foraging productivity of individual workers . Selection acting on foraging behavior components may result in chang es in the proportion of workers collecting pollen and nectar. Selectio n acting on life-history components may affect the size of the foragin g population and the distribution of workers between within nest and f oraging activities. We suggest that these components define possible s ociogenic ''pathways'' through which colony-level natural selection ca n change social organization. These pathways may be analogous to devel opmental pathways in the morphogenesis of individual organisms because small changes in behavioral or life history components of individual workers may lead to major changes in the organizational structure of c olonies.