Queen Bee Chemical Signal May Influence Daughters’ Decision to Stay

A new study has found that a chemical carried by queen sweat bees may influence whether their daughters remain in the nest or leave to start nests of their own.

Researchers led by Callum Kingwell of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and Princeton University studied sweat bees on Barro Colorado Island in Panama.

The bees can either live alone or remain in groups, with daughters that stay helping their mothers raise more offspring instead of producing eggs themselves.

The study found that queens with higher levels of a particular branched wax chemical were more likely to keep their daughters as helpers.

Researchers also found that the chemical appeared to affect the daughters’ reproductive development. Daughters exposed to higher levels had less developed ovaries.

The amount of the chemical also appeared to be linked to how quickly a mother produced eggs. Mothers with more of the wax laid eggs faster after their daughters became helpers.

Researchers said one ingredient used to produce the chemical comes from valine, an amino acid bees obtain from pollen. They suggest this may make the signal costly for weaker queens to produce.

The team followed 92 nests. About 84 percent of first daughters remained as workers, while around 10 percent left and seven percent took over the nest.

The researchers said the findings could provide insight into how cooperation and social behaviour develop in species that can choose between living alone and in groups.