Data from: Hungry for the queen: honeybee nutritional environment affects worker pheromone response in a life stage‐dependent manner

1.Animal nutritional state can profoundly affect behavior, including an individual's tendency to cooperate with others. We investigated how nutritional restriction at different life stages affects cooperative behavior in a highly social species, Apis mellifera honey bees. 2.We found that nutritional restriction affects a worker's queen pheromone response, a behavioral indicator of investment in group vs. individual reproduction. Nutritional restriction at the larval stage led to reduced ovary size and increased queen pheromone response, whereas nutritional restriction at the adult stage led to reduced lipid stores and reduced queen pheromone response. 3.We argue that these differences depend upon the extent of reproductive plasticity at these life stages, and that individual worker honey bees may adjust their behavioral and physiological traits in response to nutritional stress to invest nutritional resources in either their own or their colony's reproduction. 4.These results support the role of nutritional stress in the maintenance of cooperative behavior and we suggest that historical nutritional scarcity may be an important contributor to the evolution of extreme forms of cooperation.1. 动物的营养状态可显著影响其行为，包括个体与同伴合作的倾向。本研究探讨了不同生命阶段的营养限制对高度社会性物种西方蜜蜂（Apis mellifera）合作行为的影响。2. 本研究发现，营养限制会影响工蜂对蜂王信息素的响应——这是衡量群体繁殖投入与个体繁殖投入的行为指标。幼虫阶段的营养限制会导致工蜂卵巢尺寸缩小，且对蜂王信息素的响应增强；而成虫阶段的营养限制则会使其脂质储备减少，且对蜂王信息素的响应减弱。3. 我们认为，上述差异取决于这些生命阶段的生殖可塑性（reproductive plasticity）程度，且单个工蜂可通过调整自身行为与生理性状以响应营养胁迫，将营养资源投入到自身繁殖或蜂群繁殖当中。4. 本研究结果证实了营养胁迫在维持合作行为中的作用，并提出历史上的营养匮乏可能是极端合作形式演化的重要促成因素之一。