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- Creators: Barrett, The Honors College
Description
Division of labor is a hallmark for social insects and is closely related to honey bee morphology and physiology. Vitellogenin (Vg), a precursor protein in insect egg yolk, has several known functions apart from serving as a nutrient source for developing eggs. Vg is a component in the royal jelly produced in the hypopharyngeal glands (HPG) of worker bees which is used to feed both the developing brood and the queen. The HPG is closely associated with divisions of labor as the peak in its development corresponds with the nursing behavior. Independent of the connection between Vg and the HPG, Vg has been seen to play a fundamental role in divisions of labor by affecting worker gustatory responses, age of onset of foraging, and foraging preferences. Similar to Vg, the number of ovarioles in worker ovaries is also associated with division of labor as bees with more ovarioles tend to finish tasks in the hive and become foragers faster. This experiment aims to connect HPGs, ovaries, and Vg by proposing a link between them in the form of ecdysone (20E). 20E is a hormone produced by the ovaries and is linked to ovary development and Vg by tyramine titers. By treating young emerged bees with ecdysone and measuring HPG and ovary development over a trial period, this experiment seeks to determine whether 20E affects division of labor through Vg. We found that though the stress of injection caused a significant decrease in development of both the ovaries and HPG, there was no discernable effect of 20E on either of these organs.
ContributorsChin, Elijah Seth (Author) / Wang, Ying (Thesis director) / Page, Robert (Committee member) / Cook, Chelsea (Committee member) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
Honeybees require the use of their antennae to perceive different scents and pheromones, communicate with other members of the colony, and even detect wind vibrations, sound waves, and carbon dioxide levels. Limiting and/or removing this sense makes bees much less effective at acquiring information. However, how antennal movements might be important for olfaction has not been studied in detail. The focus of this work was to evaluate how restriction of antennae movements might affect a bee’s ability to detect and perceive odors. Bees were made to learn a certain odor and were then split up into a control group, a treatment group that had their antennae fixed with eicosane, and a sham treatment group that had a dot of eicosane on their heads in such a way that it would not affect antennae movements but still add the same amount of weight. Following a period of acclimation, the bees were tested with the conditioned odor, one that was perceptually similar to it, and to a dissimilar odor. Using proboscis-extension duration and latency as response measures, it became clear that both antenna fixation and sham treatments affected the conditioned behavior. However, these treatment effects did not reach statistical significance. Briefly, both fixation of antennae as well as the sham treatment reduced the discriminability of the conditioned and similar odors. Although more data can be collected to more fully evaluate the significance of the treatments, the behavior of the sham group could indicate that mechanoreceptive hairs on the head play an important role in olfaction. It is also possible that there are other factors at play, possibly induced by the fixed bees’ increased stress levels.
ContributorsHozan, Alvin Robert (Author) / Smith, Brian H (Thesis advisor) / Lei, Hong (Committee member) / Cook, Chelsea (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
The brain is considered the crux of identity, yet human behavior may be influenced by bacteria in gut microbiomes. Honeybees can exchange bacteria through their many social behaviors, making their microbiomes, and the effect they have on honeybee behavior, of interest. There is recent evidence suggesting the presence of bacteria existing in human brains, which can be investigated in honeybee brains due to their well-documented structure. The purpose of this study is to establish if lipopolysaccharide—a molecule on bacteria membranes—is present in the honeybee brain and if it colocalizes with vitellogenin—an immune mediator. Additionally, this study also seeks to establish the efficacy of embedding tissue samples in resin and performing immunohistochemistry for vitellogenin and lipopolysaccharide on sections.
ContributorsStrange, Amalie Sofie (Co-author) / Strange, Amalie (Co-author) / Amdam, Gro (Thesis director) / Baluch, Page (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Solutions to mitigating the negative externalities of climate change are deemed necessary for a sustainable future. Residential community composting, such as the Community Compost Program at Vista del Sol, could potentially play an important role within Arizona State University’s (ASU) solution to develop a sustainable institution as programs aspire to develop sustainable behaviors and integrate environmentally positive practices within students’ lives. The research and review of how universities can utilize a residential community compost program to ignite sustainable action within on-campus communities could present helpful information for additional universities to implement on their own. This review will aim to tackle the research question: how can the operational functions of existing university residential composting programs and behavioral science research be implemented within the Community Compost Program at Arizona State University? The review from existing university residential composting programs and behavioral sciences will be completed to provide an explanation of how residential community composting can overall be effectively prompted.
ContributorsKovacs, Amelia (Author) / Wharton, Christopher (Thesis director) / Daniel, Fischer (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05