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Poster Display

Physiology, Biochemistry, and Toxicology

Poster: PBT, Physiology and Toxicology

Age-specific thermogenic warm-up rates across different bumble bee castes (Bombus impatiens)

Tuesday, November 11, 2025
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM Pacific
Location: Exhibit Hall A-A1, OCC
Poster Display
Insects are often thought to live too briefly to exhibit signs of aging, yet some social insects, like bumble bees, live long enough to show physiological changes across their lifespan. Bumble bee queens can live for over a year, while workers and drones (males) typically live for only a few weeks. These differences in lifespan suggest that the aging process could vary across castes, but this has rarely been studied. Declining muscle performance is often a key indicator of aging in animals. For bees, thoracic muscles are critical for warm-up and flight. How quickly a bee can warm itself also plays a crucial role in helping bees forage early in the day or in colder environments. We measured the dynamics of warm-up from chill-coma as an indicator of muscle performance for queen, worker, and male Bombus impatiens of varying ages. Bees were cooled until they entered chill-coma and then were monitored using thermal imaging under controlled conditions. Our results show striking differences in warm-up rates among castes and with age. By uncovering how age and caste shape muscle performance, this work offers new insight into insect aging and the ecological roles of social bee castes.