@article{282fa7f5154e4480a30bfc06d682370b,
title = "Soldier neural architecture is temporarily modality specialized but poorly predicted by repertoire size in the stingless bee Tetragonisca angustula",
abstract = "Individual heterogeneity within societies provides opportunities to test hypotheses about adaptive neural investment in the context of group cooperation. Here, we explore neural investment in defense specialist soldiers of the eusocial stingless bee (Tetragonisca angustula) which are age subspecialized on distinct defense tasks and have an overall higher lifetime task repertoire than other sterile workers within the colony. Consistent with predicted behavioral demands, soldiers had higher relative visual (optic lobe) investment than nonsoldiers but only during the period when they were performing the most visually demanding defense task (hovering guarding). As soldiers aged into the less visually demanding task of standing guarding this difference disappeared. Neural investment was otherwise similar across all colony members. Despite having larger task repertoires, soldiers had similar absolute brain size and the smaller relative brain size compared to other workers, meaning that lifetime task repertoire size was a poor predictor of brain size. Both high behavioral specialization in stable environmental conditions and reassignment across task groups during a crisis occur in T. angustula. The differences in neurobiology we report here are consistent with these specialized but flexible defense strategies. This work broadens our understanding of how neurobiology mediates age and morphological task specialization in highly cooperative societies.",
author = "Baudier, {Kaitlin M.} and Bennett, {Meghan M.} and Meghan Barrett and Cossio, {Frank J.} and Wu, {Robert D.} and Sean O'Donnell and Pavlic, {Theodore P.} and Fewell, {Jennifer H.}",
note = "Funding Information: We thank the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the community of Gamboa, Panama for allowing access to public and private lands on which this field work was conducted. Permits for this work were issued by the Panamanian Ministry of the Environment (MIAMBIENTE). Funding was provided by the Arizona State University School of Life Sciences{\textquoteright} Innovative Postdoctoral Research Award to Bennett and Baudier, contract W31P4Q‐18‐C‐0054 from the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to Pavlic and Fewell, and startup funds from the University of Southern Mississippi to Baudier. We thank Herm{\'o}genes Fern{\'a}ndez‐Marin, David Roubik, and Madeleine Ostwald for field assistance, and thank Purnima Sachdeva and Rheanna Congdon for lab assistance. We thank Majid Ghaninia Tabarestani, Jason Newbern, Brian Smith, and Jon Harrison for helpful discussion of methodology and use of facilities and equipment. Funding Information: We thank the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the community of Gamboa, Panama for allowing access to public and private lands on which this field work was conducted. Permits for this work were issued by the Panamanian Ministry of the Environment (MIAMBIENTE). Funding was provided by the Arizona State University School of Life Sciences{\textquoteright} Innovative Postdoctoral Research Award to Bennett and Baudier, contract W31P4Q-18-C-0054 from the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to Pavlic and Fewell, and startup funds from the University of Southern Mississippi to Baudier. We thank Herm{\'o}genes Fern{\'a}ndez-Marin, David Roubik, and Madeleine Ostwald for field assistance, and thank Purnima Sachdeva and Rheanna Congdon for lab assistance. We thank Majid Ghaninia Tabarestani, Jason Newbern, Brian Smith, and Jon Harrison for helpful discussion of methodology and use of facilities and equipment. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 Wiley Periodicals LLC",
year = "2022",
month = mar,
doi = "10.1002/cne.25273",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "530",
pages = "672--682",
journal = "Journal of Comparative Neurology",
issn = "0021-9967",
publisher = "Wiley-Liss Inc.",
number = "4",
}