Does efficiency drive diversity: the optimal distribution of bumble bee workers
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Abstract
Diversity among the traits of group member exists within groups, but why this diversity has evolved is not always clear. Bumble bee (Bombus spp) workers exhibit a diversity of body sizes, yet there appears to be no clear colony benefit. Larger workers outperform smaller workers in every respect, so why do colonies produce these small workers? We propose that these small workers benefit the colony despite their worse performance. We test the novel hypothesis that diversity has evolved as a way to increase group efficiency by minimizing opportunity cost through individuals specializing according to their comparative advantage. We test this by modeling the interaction among bumble bee workers based on size-dependent performances and costs from the bumble bee literature. First, comparing the performance of pairs of workers with the same production costs but different amount of diversity. Then we simulate interactions within a colony to determine if colony performance increases with worker diversity.