| Grant number: | 10/19717-4 |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral |
| Start date: | April 01, 2011 |
| End date: | November 30, 2013 |
| Field of knowledge: | Biological Sciences - Zoology - Animal Behavior |
| Principal Investigator: | Fábio Santos do Nascimento |
| Grantee: | Denise de Araujo Alves |
| Host Institution: | Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil |
| Associated research grant: | 10/10027-5 - Behavioural mediation, chemical signalisation and physiological aspects regulating the social organization in hymenopterans, AP.JP |
Abstract Insect societies are well-known for their high degree of cooperation, but their colonies can also be exploited by intraspecific social parasites. When these "cheaters" do not have direct reproductive options in their natal nest, they seek for reproductive opportunities in other, unrelated colonies. Thus, their brood is reared by unrelated individuals, and the costs are carried by these resident workers. The aim of this project is to investigate the evolutionary conseuqences of the intraspecific social parasitism by reproductive workers and queens in the stingless bees, as well as the proximate mechanisms social parasites have evolved to circumvent the mechanisms that colonies evolved to protect themselves from being exploited. As model systems, we will study Melipona quadrifasciata, M. scutellaris e Scaptotrigona depilis. Five questions are posed: Can reproductive workers succeed in entering unrelated colonies? If the reproductive workers can succeed in entering unrelated colonies, do they prefer to joy a queenright or queenless colony nearby? Given that queens infiltrate and take over other unrelated nests, is there a positive relation between the proportion of reared queen and the number of queens that leave the hives? Is social parasitism by queens linked exclusively to species that produce queens in great excess? Have queens managed to circumvent the mechanisms evolved by the colonies to ensure protection from being exploited? To answer these questions we will use an approach focusing on the biological information available for the chosen species to test the hypotheses using behavioural observations, molecular biology and chemical ecology techniques. We believe that our results will be of interest to the scientific community that work with behavioural ecology, particularly those ones interested in the origin and evolution of social behaviour. (AU) | |
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