Evolution of ageing, costs of reproduction and the fecundity-longevity trade-off in eusocial insects.

ABSTRACT: Eusocial insects provide special opportunities to elucidate the evolution of ageing as queens have apparently evaded costs of reproduction and reversed the fecundity-longevity trade-off generally observed in non-social organisms. But how reproduction affects longevity in eusocial insects has rarely been tested experimentally. In this study, we took advantage of the reproductive plasticity of workers to test the causal role of reproduction in determining longevity in eusocial insects. Using the eusocial bumblebee Bombus terrestris, we found that, in whole colonies, in which workers could freely 'choose' whether to become reproductive, workers' level of ovarian activation was significantly positively associated with longevity and ovary-active workers significantly outlived ovary-inact

SUBMITTER: Blacher P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5524490 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature