CombMaskArray.npy from Manipulating nest architecture reveals three-dimensional building strategies and colony resilience in honeybees

Form follows function throughout the development of an organism. This principle should apply beyond the organism to the nests they build, but empirical studies are lacking. Honeybees provide a uniquely suited system to study nest form and function throughout development because we can image the three-dimensional structure repeatedly and non-destructively. Here, we tracked nest-wide comb growth in six colonies over 45 days (control colonies) and found that colonies have a stereotypical process of development that maintains a spheroid nest shape. To experimentally test if nest structure is important for colony function, we shuffled the nests of an additional six colonies, weekly rearranging the comb positions and orientations (shuffled colonies). Surprisingly, we found no differences between control and shuffled colonies in multiple colony performance metrics—worker population, comb area, hive weight and nest temperature. However, using predictive modelling to examine how workers allocate comb to expand their nests, we show that shuffled colonies compensate for these disruptions by accounting for the three-dimensional structure to reconnect their nest. This suggests that nest architecture is more flexible than previously thought, and that superorganisms have mechanisms to compensate for drastic architectural perturbations and maintain colony function.在生物体的整个发育进程中，形式追随功能。这一原则本应延伸至生物体所构筑的巢穴，但相关实证研究仍存在空白。蜜蜂为研究发育过程中的巢穴形式与功能提供了极为适配的研究体系，因为我们可对其三维结构开展重复性非破坏性成像。本研究中，我们对6个对照组蜂群的全巢巢脾生长情况进行了为期45天的追踪，发现蜂群存在一套维持球状巢穴形态的定型发育过程。为通过实验验证巢穴结构对蜂群功能是否至关重要，我们对另外6个蜂群的巢穴实施了打乱处理：每周重新调整巢脾的位置与朝向（即打乱组蜂群）。令人意外的是，我们在多项蜂群性能指标——包括工蜂种群数量、巢脾面积、蜂箱重量与巢温——中均未发现对照组与打乱组蜂群存在显著差异。不过，借助预测建模分析工蜂如何分配巢脾以拓展巢穴，我们发现打乱组蜂群会通过考量三维结构来重新连通巢穴，以此弥补上述扰动带来的影响。这一结果表明，巢穴结构的灵活性远超此前认知，超有机体（Superorganism）具备应对剧烈结构扰动并维持蜂群功能的补偿机制。