Abstract Animals have evolved foraging strategies to acquire blends of nutrients that maximize fitness traits. In social insects, nutrient regulation is complicated by the fact that few individuals, the foragers, must address the divergent nutritional needs of all colony members simultaneously, including other workers, the reproductives, and the brood. Here we used 3D nutritional geometry design to examine how bumblebee workers regulate their collection of 3 major macronutrients in the presence and absence of brood. We provided small colonies artificial nectars (liquid diets) and pollens (solid diets) varying in their compositions of proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates during 2 weeks. Colonies given a choice between nutritionally complementary diets self-selected foods to reach a target ratio of 71% proteins, 6% carbohydrates, and 23% lipids, irrespective of the presence of brood. When confined to a single nutritionally imbalanced solid diet, colonies without brood regulated lipid collection and over-collected protein relative to this target ratio, whereas colonies with brood regulated both lipid and protein collection. This brood effect on the regulation of nutrient collection by workers suggests that protein levels are critical for larval development. Our results highlight the importance of considering bee nutrition as a multidimensional phenomenon to better assess the effects of environmental impoverishment and malnutrition on population declines.

中文翻译：

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熊蜂根据巢穴的存在调整蛋白质和脂质收集规则


摘要 动物已经进化出觅食策略来获取营养混合物，从而最大限度地发挥健康特征。在群居昆虫中，营养调节非常复杂，因为很少有觅食者必须同时满足所有群体成员（包括其他工蚁、繁殖体和育雏体）不同的营养需求。在这里，我们使用 3D 营养几何设计来研究大黄蜂工蜂在有或没有巢时如何调节 3 种主要常量营养素的收集。我们在两周内向小菌落提供了蛋白质、脂质和碳水化合物组成不同的人工花蜜（流质饲料）和花粉（固体饲料）。蜂群可以在营养补充饮食之间进行选择，自行选择食物，以达到 71% 蛋白质、6% 碳水化合物和 23% 脂质的目标比例，无论是否存在幼崽。当局限于单一营养不平衡的固体饮食时，没有巢的菌落相对于该目标比例调节脂质收集和过度收集的蛋白质，而有巢的菌落调节脂质和蛋白质收集。这种对工蚁营养物收集调节的育雏效应表明，蛋白质水平对于幼虫的发育至关重要。我们的结果强调了将蜜蜂营养视为一种多维现象的重要性，以更好地评估环境贫困和营养不良对人口下降的影响。