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Evolution of Caste-Specific Chemical Profiles in Halictid Bees

Overview of attention for article published in Journal of Chemical Ecology, July 2018
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Title
Evolution of Caste-Specific Chemical Profiles in Halictid Bees
Published in
Journal of Chemical Ecology, July 2018
DOI 10.1007/s10886-018-0991-8
Pubmed ID
Authors

Iris Steitz, Callum Kingwell, Robert J. Paxton, Manfred Ayasse

Abstract

Chemical communication is crucial for the maintenance of colony organization in eusocial insects and chemical signals are known to mediate important aspects of their social life, including the regulation of reproduction. Sociality is therefore hypothesized to be accompanied by an increase in the complexity of chemical communication. However, little is known about the evolution of odor signals at the transition from solitary living to eusociality. Halictid bees are especially suitable models to study this question as they exhibit considerable variability in social behavior. Here we investigated whether the dissimilarities in cuticle chemical signals in females of different castes and life stages reflect the level of social complexity across halictid bee species. Our hypothesis was that species with a higher social behavior ergo obligate eusocial species possess a more distinct chemical profile between castes or female life stages. We analyzed cuticular chemical profiles of foundresses, breeding females and workers of ancestrally solitary species, facultative and obligate eusocial halictid species. We also tested whether social complexity was associated with a higher investment in chemical signals. Our results revealed higher chemical dissimilarity between castes in obligate than in facultative eusocial species, especially regarding macrocyclic lactones, which were the single common compound class overproduced in queens compared with workers. Chemical dissimilarities were independent of differences in ovarian status in obligate eusocial species but were dependent on ovarian status in facultative eusocial species, which we discuss in an evolutionary framework.

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The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 35 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 35 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 7 20%
Researcher 4 11%
Student > Master 4 11%
Student > Bachelor 3 9%
Student > Doctoral Student 3 9%
Other 5 14%
Unknown 9 26%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 18 51%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 4 11%
Environmental Science 1 3%
Earth and Planetary Sciences 1 3%
Energy 1 3%
Other 1 3%
Unknown 9 26%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 18 July 2018.
All research outputs
#16,886,902
of 24,829,155 outputs
Outputs from Journal of Chemical Ecology
#1,676
of 2,126 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#194,908
of 301,741 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Journal of Chemical Ecology
#23
of 33 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 24,829,155 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 21st percentile – i.e., 21% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 2,126 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 6.3. This one is in the 16th percentile – i.e., 16% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 301,741 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 26th percentile – i.e., 26% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 33 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 30th percentile – i.e., 30% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.