Risky robbing is a job for short-lived and infected worker honeybees

Abstract

Researchers in many fields would like to understand the determinants of risk-taking. Social insects are an excellent model for examining them since the tasks they perform bear different risks. Some honeybee (Apis mellifera) workers do not forage for nectar or pollen; instead, they take on the extreme risk of robbing honey from other bee nests. In this paper, we show that robbers live shorter lives than foragers under the same cage conditions, and that they are more often and more heavily infected with the intestinal parasite Nosema than foragers are. This finding supports the theoretical prediction that risky tasks should be undertaken by shorter-lived individuals. © 2014 The Author(s).