Becoming social: The dynamics of task allocation and spatial organization in developing bumblebee colonies

In social insects, behavior is tightly linked to space-use within the nest and individuals show strong spatial fidelity, yet the origins of this spatial structure and the factors driving its development remain unclear. Bumblebees offer a valuable model system to study this question, as colonies are founded annually by a single queen. Yet most behavioral research in bumblebees has utilized mature commercial colonies. As such, little is known about how task allocation and spatial organization emerge in newly founded colonies.

Using automated tracking tools and barcode tagging, we monitored all individuals in twelve colonies of Bombus impatiens and B. griseocollis, reared from wild queens in lab conditions. Individuals were tracked over their lifespans, allowing capture of high-resolution, long-term behavioral data across colony development.

We found distinct shifts in task allocation and spatial organization as colonies developed, as well as consistent changes in space-use by workers over their lifespans. These results bring new insight to the emergence of social behavior and spatial structure in social insect colonies, especially during critical early stages of colony development.