Social life results in social stress protection: a novel concept to explain individual life-history patterns in social insects

We describe major categories of stress and how a colonial lifestyle may protect social insects, particularly against temporary peaks of extreme stress. We use the honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) to illustrate how patterns of life expectancy may be explained by social stress protection and how modern beekeeping practices can disrupt social stress protection. We conclude that the broad concept of social stress protection requires rigorous empirical testing because it may have implications for our general understanding of social evolution and specifically for improving honey bee health.PMID:38468146 | DOI:10.1111/brv.13074
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - Category: Biology Authors: Source Type: research