Over the Course of Its Lifetime, Worker Honey Bees Change

Multiple Choice

Over the course of its lifetime, worker honey bees change behavioral states multiple times, from a young adult that cleans cells to a nurse bee to a forager. What causes a worker honey bee to go through these different behavioral stages?

A) These stages are the result of changes in gene expression that are based entirely on the bee's age.
B) Changes in the interplay between brain gene expression and the bee's social environment produce behavioral variation over the honey bee's life.
C) Honey bees progress from one stage to another based on the current population density of the hive.
D) Each behavioral stage is induced by the different protein and nutritional substrates that honey bees eat throughout their lifetime.