| Grant number: | 12/11144-0 |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate |
| Start date: | September 01, 2012 |
| End date: | July 31, 2016 |
| Field of knowledge: | Biological Sciences - Zoology - Animal Behavior |
| Principal Investigator: | Vera Lucia Imperatriz-Fonseca |
| Grantee: | Ayrton Vollet Neto |
| Host Institution: | Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil |
Abstract Although Meliponini queens mate with only one male (monandry), Apini queens mate with ca. of 10 to 20 males (polyandry), probably a derived condition in the evolutionary history of the eussocial bees. This high number of matings implies high costs to the queens (e.g. risks of predation and injuries by males, energetic expenditure, etc.), although the benefits are not still completely understood. There are evidences that the high genetic diversity among workers could increase the colonies' fitness in important activities such as temperature control and foraging. Other evidences are related to the complementary sex determination (CSD) system in Hymenoptera, so that the polyandry would have evolved as a way to decrease the costs imposed by the diploid male production. Indeed, multiple mating brings important consequences to the relatedness among colony members and, consequently, sets the stage for various reproductive conflicts. So, the evolution of mating systems is a very relevant aspect in behavioral and evolutionary ecology. The main goal of this project is to investigate the evolution of mating systems in Meliponini and we pose two questions: (I) what are the advantages of within-colony genetic diversity? and (II) why did not polyandry evolve in Meliponini? In order to answer the first question, we will experimentally simulate high genetic diversity relatedness among workers, mixing brood combs of Scaptotrigona depilis colonies and we will compare the performance (brood comb construction and thermoregulation) of these colonies with the performance of colonies with low genetic diversity - the natural condition. In order to answer the second question we will test the hypothesis related to the CSD system, which hypothesized that the mother queens producing diploid males tend to be killed by the workers and that this worker behavior might have avoided the evolution of polyandry in Meliponini species. (AU) | |
| News published in Agência FAPESP Newsletter about the scholarship: | |
| More itemsLess items | |
| TITULO | |
| Articles published in other media outlets ( ): | |
| More itemsLess items | |
| VEICULO: TITULO (DATA) | |
| VEICULO: TITULO (DATA) | |