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Figure 6
Common garden experiment. Eggs in combs are taken from high and low strain queens and placed into
a common nursery colony where they hatch and are cared for by the resident worker bees. About 6 days
after hatching, the larvae become pupae and the cells are capped by the bees. Prior to the pupae turning
into adults (about 18 days after hatching), the combs are placed in an incubator where the new adults
emerge. The new adults are removed from the combs and placed back into high and low strain colonies.
of the high pollen hoarding strain store on average more than 10 times more pollen
than colonies of the low strain. We now have completed more than 30 generations
of selection. While we conducted the selection experiment we repeatedly asked the
question, “what changes have occurred at diff erent levels of organization?” To address
this question, we conducted common garden experiments (Fig. 6) where we placed
high and low strain workers into hives soon a� er they emerged as adults and observed
their behavior. High and low strain bees were marked so we could determine their
origins. We collected them as they returned from foraging trips and determined the
age at which they initiated foraging, the weight of nectar collected, the concentration
of the nectar, and the weight of their pollen loads.
524 | Ernst Mayr Lecture 2009