Biology subjects

Hefetz, A.

Publications and source records attributed to Hefetz, A..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2018

Chemical signatures of honey bee group membership develop via a socially-modulated innate process

Large social insect colonies exhibit a remarkable ability for recognizing group members via colony-specific cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) pheromonal signatures. Previous work suggested that in some ant species colony-specific signatures are generated through a \"gestalt\" mechanism via the passive transfer and homogenization of CHCs across all individual members of the colony. In contrast, we demonstrate that nestmate recognition cues of worker honey bees (Apis mellifera) mature in foragers via a sequence of stereotypic age-dependent quantitative and qualitative chemical transitions, which are driven by intrinsic biosynthetic pathways. Therefore, in contrast to predictions of the \"Gestalt\" model, nestmate recognition cues in honey bee colonies do not represent a passive \"average\" signature that is carried and recognized by all colony members. Instead, specific colony members develop the relevant cues via an innately-determined developmental program that can be modulated by colony-specific social environmental factors.

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2018

Demography and behavior of polygyne nests of the supercolonial Cataglyphis niger: Does kinship matter?

The basic ant colony is presumed to have evolved through kin selection. However, ants show a remarkable diversity in their social organization, from a monogynous-monandrous queen to the more derived states of polygyny with polyandrous queens. The existence of polygyny is an evolutionary enigma, since kin selection theory predicts that while queens should strive for reproductive monopoly, workers are predicted to favor their own matriline in rearing gynes. Using a barcoding system that enables tracking of individual interactions, along with polymorphic DNA microsatellite markers that indicate the matriline and patriline of all individuals, we demonstrate the complex social interactions in polygyne nests of Cataglyphis niger. C. niger is not only polygyne but also constitutes a supercolony at the study site. Our pioneering findings that both queens and workers are not necessarily related to each other support the supercolony structure of the population. Also in line with supercoloniality, we demonstrate that the workers contribute equally to the nest production and rearing of the queens. Unlike invasive supercolonial species, C. niger is native to Israel, raising questions about the driving forces, apart from kin selection, that stabilize this society.

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2017

Who is the host of the host-associated microbiome? Colony-level dynamics overshadow individual-level characteristics in the fur microbiome of a social mammal, the Egyptian fruit-bat

In the first longitudinal study of bat microbiomes, we find that unlike the pattern described in humans and other mammals, the prominent dynamics in Egyptian fruit bats fur microbiomes are those of change over time at the level of the colony as a whole. Thus, on average, a pair of fur microbiome samples from different individuals in the same colony collected on the same date are more similar to one another than a pair of samples from the same individual collected at different time points. This pattern suggests that the whole colony may be the appropriate biological unit for understanding some of the roles of the host microbiome in social bats ecology and evolution. This pattern of synchronized colony changes over time is also reflected in the profile of volatile compounds in the bats fur, but differs from the more individualized pattern found in the bats gut microbiome.

ecology↗