Pilot Projects | Project Supplements

Principal Investigators: Robert Page and Olav Ruppell

The broad objective is to establish a research program on aging in societies of the honey bee (Apis mellifera L.), in order to investigate the consequences of advanced sociality on aging. The inter-relations between social group characteristics and individual longevity and senescence have not been thoroughly addressed in any system, except for humans and bees have high potential for understanding the social evolution of longevity. The pilot will include a comprehensive literature analysis as well as some initial experiments to manipulate bee societies and individuals to assess the effects on longevity.