Task allocation in social insect colonies is generally organised into an age-related division of labour, termed the temporal polyethism schedule, which may in part have evolved to reduce infection of the colony’s brood by pests and pathogens. The temporal polyethism schedule is sensitive to colony perturbations that may lead to adaptive changes in task allocation, maintaining colony homeostasis. Though social insects can be infected by a range of parasites, little is known of how these parasites impact within-colony behaviour and the temporal polyethism schedule. We use honey bees (Apis mellifera) experimentally infected by two of their emerging pathogens, Deformed wing virus (DWV), which is relatively understudied concerning its behavioural impact on its host, and the exotic microsporidian Nosema ceranae. We examined parasite effects on host temporal polyethism and patterns of activity within the colony. We found that pathogens accelerated the temporal polyethism schedule, but without reducing host behavioural repertoire. Infected hosts exhibited increased hyperactivity, allocating more time to self-grooming and foraging-related tasks. The strength of behavioural alterations we observed was found to be pathogen specific; behavioural modifications were more pronounced in virus-treated hosts versus N. ceranae-treated hosts, with potential benefits for the colony in terms of reducing within-colony transmission. Investigating the effects of multiple pathogens on behavioural patterns of social insects could play a crucial role in understanding pathogen spread within a colony and their effects on colony social organisation.

中文翻译：

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寄生虫调节蜂群内的活动并加速社会性昆虫蜜蜂的时间多种族时间表


社会性昆虫群体中的任务分配通常被组织成与年龄相关的劳动分工，称为时间多民族时间表，其进化可能部分是为了减少害虫和病原体对群体的幼崽的感染。时间多种族调度对群体扰动敏感，这可能导致任务分配的适应性变化，维持群体稳态。尽管群居昆虫可能会被一系列寄生虫感染，但人们对这些寄生虫如何影响群体内的行为和时间多种族时间表知之甚少。我们使用蜜蜂（Apis mellifera）进行实验感染，其中两种新出现的病原体是变形翅病毒（DWV）和外来微孢子虫微孢子虫，该病毒对其宿主的行为影响相对不足。我们研究了寄生虫对宿主时间多民族性和群体内活动模式的影响。我们发现病原体加速了时间多种族进程，但没有减少宿主的行为能力。受感染的宿主表现出更加活跃的表现，将更多的时间分配给自我梳理和觅食相关的任务。我们观察到的行为改变的强度被发现是病原体特异性的；与经中华蜜蜂处理的宿主相比，经病毒处理的宿主的行为改变更为明显，在减少群体内传播方面对群体具有潜在的好处。研究多种病原体对社会性昆虫行为模式的影响，对于了解病原体在群体内的传播及其对群体社会组织的影响发挥着至关重要的作用。