Fig. 2
From: Costs of reproduction are present but latent in eusocial bumblebee queens
Fertility measures for R (eggs removed) and C (eggs removed and replaced) Bombus terrestris queens/colonies. a Queen fertility (mean number of eggs produced per 48-h period) for R (N = 36) and C (N = 35) queens before treatment started (baseline mean queen fertility: days 1 and 3) and during treatment until the first worker egg-laying was observed (during-treatment mean queen fertility: days 5–25 inclusive). Queen fertility over days 5–25 represented the fertility response of queens alone to the treatment. NS, not significant; *** p < 0.001. Black circles represent means for individual queens. b Colony fertility over time for R (N = 36 on day 1 declining to N = 1 on day 134) and C (N = 35 on day 1 declining to N = 1 on day 148) colonies until day 147. Red dashed line: day 5, manipulations started; black dashed line: day 26, when worker egg-laying first observed in any colony. Daily sample sizes are in Additional file 2: Table S23. Outliers not shown. For a and b, black horizontal bars: medians; boxes: interquartile ranges; whiskers: 1.5 × interquartile range. R colonies had significantly higher colony fertility than C colonies after treatment had started (see ‘Results’). c Observed worker egg-laying over time, recorded every 4 days during 10-min observations in R (N = 36 on day 1 declining to N = 1 on day 134) and C (N = 35 on day 1 declining to N = 1 on day 148) colonies. Black dashed line: day 26, when worker egg-laying first observed in any colony. Points are offset around each integral value on the Y axis. From day 26, R colonies had significantly more worker egg laying events than C colonies (see ‘Results’)