In the transition from summer to winter bees, there are a good number 
of related changes that make unravelling cause and effect a tad 
complicated: reduced or interrupted incoming pollen (and nectar?), 
shortened photoperiod, decreased rearing of young brood, increase in 
protein in various worker tissues, hormone titer changes, change in 
longevity.  Maurizio in the 50s? produced long lived bees in the summer 
by preventing them from rearing brood, leading to a fairly simplistic 
working model.  At some level, that model has good explanatory power, 
even though it may not be perfectly accurate.  At the crux of the whole 
process is the question of what is the cue or signal for decreased 
rearing of brood?  That seems to be the key to the cascade of processes 
that follow.

 

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