Bumble bee queen egg laying is facilitated by both social conditions and nest cavity size

Abstract

Bumble bees are essential pollinators that have an annual eusocial lifestyle where new cohorts of queens establish colonies each season. The early stages of colony establishment are critical for colony success and are heavily impacted by how readily queens activate their ovaries and initiate egg laying at the start of the season. Understanding the social and nesting factors that influence queen reproduction may provide key insights into early colony establishment. Here, we examine how social conditions and nest cavity size affect the onset of egg laying in early nesting Bombus impatiens queens. In the first experiment, queens were assigned to a social condition where they were placed into nesting boxes that either completely restricted contact with nestmates (and were smaller in size) or allowed direct physical contact and then housed either alone or with nestmates (males or workers). We found that contact with either workers or males accelerated egg laying in queens relative to being housed alone. Unexpectedly, queens housed in the restricted cages, regardless of whether alone or with nestmates, also initiated egg laying earlier. This led us to a second experiment, where we examined ovarian activation and hemolymph juvenile hormone (JH-III) concentrations in early queens housed in different nesting cavity sizes. Here, we found that smaller nest cavity sizes lead to a greater degree of ovarian activation in gynes (young, unmated queens), but juvenile hormone concentrations did not differ. Our findings demonstrate that both social conditions and nest cavity size influence reproductive timing in queens in early-stage bumble bee colonies.

A novel photoperiod-sensitive laying curve for modelling egg production in native chickens and the effect of black soldier fly larvae supplementation under agroecological conditions
Edoardo Fiorilla, Laura Ozella, Eleonora Erika Cappone +6
Scientific Reports9 Oct 2026Peer-reviewedCC BY-NC-ND 4.0Full textZoology & animal behaviourCrossref
Dietary hot red pepper powder modulates laying performance, hematology profile, and hepatic antioxidant status in laying hens under tropical conditions.
Muhammad Fathin Hanif, Ali Agus, Bambang Ariyadi +4
Veterinary and animal science6 Oct 2026Peer-reviewedCC BYFull textZoology & animal behaviourEurope PMC
High-energy diets with reduced digestible lysine for Japanese laying quails under thermoneutral conditions: effects on laying performance, egg quality, and profitability.
Ana Paula S Ton, Lidiane Staub, Aldemar M de Jesus +6
Tropical animal health and production18 Oct 2026Peer-reviewedCC BYFull textZoology & animal behaviourEurope PMC
Exploring piling behavior in aviary-housed laying hens in response to age, management practices, and social influences
Valentina Bongiorno, Ahmed B.A. Ali, Janice M. Siegford
Poultry Science17 Oct 2026Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Full textZoology & animal behaviourPMC
Effects of live yeasts and their metabolic products on bumble bee microcolony development
Danielle Rutkowski, Makena Weston, Rachel L. Vannette
Apidologie21 Sep 2026Peer-reviewedHAL deposit licenceFull textZoology & animal behaviourHAL

Cite

BibTeX RIS

BibTeX

@article{moore2026bumble,
  title = {{Bumble bee queen egg laying is facilitated by both social conditions and nest cavity size}},
  author = {Meghan E. Moore and Claudinéia P. Costa and Daiki Fujinaga and Kerry E. Mauck and Naoki Yamanaka and Guy Bloch and S. Hollis Woodard},
  journal = {Apidologie},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.1007/s13592-026-01301-4},
  url = {https://hal.science/hal-05737986v1},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}

RIS

TY  - JOUR
TI  - Bumble bee queen egg laying is facilitated by both social conditions and nest cavity size
AU  - Meghan E. Moore
AU  - Claudinéia P. Costa
AU  - Daiki Fujinaga
AU  - Kerry E. Mauck
AU  - Naoki Yamanaka
AU  - Guy Bloch
AU  - S. Hollis Woodard
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/03
JO  - Apidologie
DO  - 10.1007/s13592-026-01301-4
UR  - https://hal.science/hal-05737986v1
AB  - Bumble bees are essential pollinators that have an annual eusocial lifestyle where new cohorts of queens establish colonies each season. The early stages of colony establishment are critical for colony success and are heavily impacted by how readily queens activate their ovaries and initiate egg laying at the start of the season. Understanding the social and nesting factors that influence queen reproduction may provide key insights into early colony establishment. Here, we examine how social conditions and nest cavity size affect the onset of egg laying in early nesting Bombus impatiens queens. In the first experiment, queens were assigned to a social condition where they were placed into nesting boxes that either completely restricted contact with nestmates (and were smaller in size) or allowed direct physical contact and then housed either alone or with nestmates (males or workers). We found that contact with either workers or males accelerated egg laying in queens relative to being housed alone. Unexpectedly, queens housed in the restricted cages, regardless of whether alone or with nestmates, also initiated egg laying earlier. This led us to a second experiment, where we examined ovarian activation and hemolymph juvenile hormone (JH-III) concentrations in early queens housed in different nesting cavity sizes. Here, we found that smaller nest cavity sizes lead to a greater degree of ovarian activation in gynes (young, unmated queens), but juvenile hormone concentrations did not differ. Our findings demonstrate that both social conditions and nest cavity size influence reproductive timing in queens in early-stage bumble bee colonies.
SN  - 0044-8435
SN  - 1297-9678
ER  -

Abstract

Related

Cite