In: Biology
Explain why the workers in a colony of eusocial bees might be expected to feed their sisters three times as much food as their brothers. (Assume all of the offspring are produced from the same male and female).
In eusocisl bees there is a high level of organisation of the
society with cooperation, division of labor and brood care.
brood care involves caring of offspring from other individuals.
An organism doesn't only gain reproductive fitness by increasing their own reproductive output but it can also assist in the reading of other members of the society to increase the fitness. This comes under inclusive fitness .
Bees are haplodiploid species. It means that some individuals
are diploid (females) and some are haploid (males).
the females are formed by fertilised eggs and males are formed by
unfertilised eggs. This way the worker bee is more related to his
sister than to his own offspring as it shares 75% of his DNA with
his sister. On the other hand they only share 25% of their genes
with their brothers . So , it makes more sense in tending to the
care of females than males because there is better Chance of
passing on their genes through them.