A honey bee colony is a population of related and closely interacting individuals that form a highly complex society. The population dynamics of this group is complicated, because the fates of individuals within it are not independent, and an individual's lifespan is strongly influenced by their role in the colony. To aid exploration of honey bee population dynamics here, a simple mathematical representation is described of how the social regulation of worker division of labour can inuence the longevity of individual bees, and colony growth. You can nd more details at