>I think temporal caste can be applied to bees also for discussion purposes. 

I've enjoyed the inputs on this topic today- makes me wish Bee-L had a 'like' button.

Back to the question at hand- is it generally consensus that while colony dynamics and/or our manipulations may temporarily skew the 'temporal castes' or 'polyethism' within a given colony, there is no scholarly support for these changes materially impacting the age that bees begin to forage?

And if so, there might be some merit to the study of nascent foragers to consider the life span between given genetic and/or environmental backgrounds between colonies?

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