Influence of pollen deprivation on the fore wing asymmetry of honeybee workers and drones

Environmental stress during development can be linked to changes in morphological traits of the organism such as increased fluctuating asymmetry. In suboptimal conditions, like food deprivation, developmental stability may be perturbed, because organisms are not able to buffer disturbances caused by stressors and, in effect, greater degrees of asymmetry can arise during development. In this study, honeybee workers and drones were reared in colonies with limited and unlimited access to pollen. The developmental instability of the workers and drones in these colonies was assessed using the asymmetry of their fore wing venation. Both workers and drones showed a similar directional asymmetry of size—in favour of the right wing—and significant, but dissimilar, differences of wing shape. Limited access to pollen caused some differences in the fluctuating asymmetry of size and shape in pollen-deprived workers and drones compared to the control bees. However, more pronounced differences were found due to replication than to pollen deprivation itself.