Bumble Bee Workers Give Up Sleep to Care for Offspring that Are Not Their Own

Moshe Nagari, Ariel Gera, Sara Jonsson, Guy Bloch*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

Nagari et al. report that bumble bee workers reduce sleep in the presence of larvae that need to be fed or pupae that do not. Emptied cocoons induce a similar but transient effect, suggesting that pupal substances mediate the brood effect on sleep. This is the first evidence that animals give up sleep to care for offspring that are not their own.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3488-3493.e4
JournalCurrent Biology
Volume29
Issue number20
DOIs
StatePublished - 21 Oct 2019

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier Ltd

Keywords

  • bee
  • bumble bee
  • circadian rhythms
  • insect
  • maternal care
  • plasticity
  • reproductive ground plan
  • response threshold
  • sleep
  • social evolution

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Bumble Bee Workers Give Up Sleep to Care for Offspring that Are Not Their Own'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this