Variation in individual worker honey bee behavior shows hallmarks of personality

摘要

The existence of personalities has been explored in various invertebrates, but a comprehensive investigation of personality differences across individuals in a eusocial insect has not yet been conducted. The study of personality differences across individuals within the same behavioral caste may contribute to an understanding of how social insects divide labor within the nest. Here, we define and investigate three dimensions of personality within the worker caste of a model social insect, the honey bee Apis mellifera, as follows: (1) consistent individual behavioral differences over time, (2) consistent individual behavioral differences across contexts, and (3) the presence of correlated suites of behaviors. To test whether honey bee workers exhibit dimensions 1 and 2, we repeatedly assessed responses of groups of same-age bees in cages to stimuli that are relevant to bee life history. To test for dimension 3, we examined behavior within a colony context by using observation hives to record the behaviors of individual bees across their lifetimes. Our results provide some evidence for all three dimensions of personality in honey bee workers. In particular, our data suggest some individuals may be more likely to be highly interactive with other workers (e.g., engaging in food sharing), while other individuals are consistently less interactive. These findings expand upon and contribute to previous models for the organization of worker division of labor in honey bees, suggesting that consistent behavioral differences (personalities) of workers within a behavioral caste have the potential to contribute to subcaste division of labor.