Life history, behavioural and morphometric data for queens and workers from an experiment manipulating costs of reproduction in bumble bee queens (Bombus terrestris)

The files described in this document contain data collected in Objective 1, Experiment 1 of NERC project NE/R000875/1. We experimentally increased reproduction in Bombus terrestris queens to test whether this would cause them to exhibit a cost to their longevity. We acquired young colonies of B. terrestris and allocated them to two treatments: Removal (R) queens: eggs were removed and counted, therefore inducing queens to increase their fertility and hence experience greater costs of reproduction; and Control (C) queens: eggs were removed, counted, and replaced to control for the disturbance caused by egg removal. We then assessed the queen's longevity in each colony. As egg removal increases worker egg-laying and aggression towards the queen in B. terrestris, we recorded and removed workers displaying these behaviours to ensure they did not affect colony fertility (defined as the number of eggs counted in each colony every two days) and queen longevity. As locomotory activity is affected by ageing in insects, we also monitored queen movement and response to disturbance throughout the experiment. Finally, we collected and sequenced mRNA at timepoints during the experiment that represented 10% (time-point 1, TP1) and 60% (time-point 2, TP2) mortality phases in each treatment.

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