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publicOct 2024View details →

A test method for assessing chronic oral toxicity of a pesticide to solitary nesting orchard bees, Osmia spp. (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae)

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publicDec 2025View details →

Data from: Tillage in southeastern U.S. row crops reduces ground-nesting bee incidence and diversity compared to field edges

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publicFeb 2022View details →

Bumble bee (B. vosnesenskii) queen nest searching occurs independent of ovary developmental status

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publicOct 2021View details →

Data from: Petals and leaves: quantifying the use of nest building materials by the world’s most valuable solitary bee

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opennotspecifiedSep 2019View details →

Figure 5. a in The nesting habits and flower relationships of the bee Melitoma ameghinoi (Holmberg) (Hymenopteraı Apidae)ı with notes on its taxonomy and distribution

Figure 5. a. Pollen of Ipomoea cairica from scopa. b. Pollen of Ipomoea cairica from nest. c. Pollen of Ipomoea sp. from nest. Scale: 25 µm.

opennotspecifiedSep 2019View details →

Figure 2. a in The nesting habits and flower relationships of the bee Melitoma ameghinoi (Holmberg) (Hymenopteraı Apidae)ı with notes on its taxonomy and distribution

Figure 2. a. Nesting area of Melitoma ameghinoi (arrows point to nest entrances). b. Cluster of nests of M. ameghinoi with curved turrets.

opencc-zeroAug 2020View details →

Data from: Islands in the desert for cavity-nesting bees and wasps: ecology, patterns of diversity, and conservation at oases of Baja California peninsula

Aims: The oases of Baja California peninsula (BCP) have been proposed as important hotspots of biodiversity that hold an exceptional richness in the middle of desert conditions. We provide the effect of habitat, climatic, biogeographic and anthropogenic disturbance on communities of cavity nesting taxa, emphasizing on bees, wasps and their natural enemies. Location: Baja California Peninsula, Northwest Mexico. Methods: In oases of BCP and desert neighbor environments, trap-nesting taxa were evaluated in response to factors affecting the nest abundance, richness, and community structure. We used statistical models to find the variables controlling the nest abundance and ecological analyses to determine the habitat effect on diversity under different scenarios of disturbance and latitude. Results: The nest abundance varied between bees and wasps, but solar irradiation and relative humidity influenced the abundance of both groups. In general, abundance and richness were higher in oases. Bees did not discriminate between oasis and desert habitats to nest and mud-daubing wasps were highly dependent of oases. However, there were exceptions in both groups. The degree of anthropogenic disturbance affected the species composition, richness, and natural enemies. Main conclusions: The oases of Baja California seem to be functioning as mesic islands into the desert, each oasis hosting a great and unique richness of cavity-nesting taxa. About 65% of nest abundance and 50% of species occurred exclusively in the oasis. Thus, at least 21 species could be threatened if the oases of BCP disappear in the future. Local conditions are shaping the community structure of species, but also large-scale factors, e.g. climate and biogeographic patterns seem to be influencing the community structure. Since habitat loss and fragmentation can be a major problem in most oases, strategies to maintain the ecosystem services of pollinators and predators should be included in the conservation programs of these fragile habitats.

opencc-zeroNov 2020View details →

Data from: Wildflower plantings on fruit farms provide pollen resources and increase nesting by stem nesting bees

1. Wildflower plantings on farms have been shown to attract foraging wild bees, however, whether these added floral resources increase nesting densities of bees remains largely untested. 2. We placed nest boxes containing natural reeds at 20 fruit farms in Michigan. We then compared nesting densities between farms with and without wildflower plantings and analyzed nest provisions to evaluate use of wildflower plantings for brood provisioning. 3. We found significantly greater nesting at farms with wildflower plantings, with only one out of 236 completed nests at a farm without a planting. The majority of nests were completed by Megachile pugnata, with a portion of nests completed by Osmia caerulescens. 4. We found that nesting bees collected pollen from only a subset of the available flowers in the wildflower plantings, with a strong preference for Centaurea maculosa, and Rudbeckia type pollens. While these species were found growing in the plantings, only Rudbeckia type species were seeded in the plantings. 5. This study provides evidence that wildflower plantings (though not only seeded species) are filling a critical resource gap for stem-nesting bees in agricultural landscapes and likely support local populations.

opencc-zeroDec 2020View details →

Heterogeneous agroecosystems support high diversity and abundance of trap nesting bees and wasps amongst tropical crops

Land-use intensification for agricultural purposes modifies the structure of natural environments in various ways and at different spatial scales. These modifications can affect ecological processes and the community structure of multi-environment users such as solitary bees and wasps. Understanding the role of distinct habitat descriptors in promoting such changes is one of the major challenges of empirical studies. In this study, we use a multi-scale approach to evaluate how landscape compositional and configurational heterogeneity, vegetation structural complexity, and the proportion of agricultural landscape composition affect communities of bees and wasps that nest in pre-existing cavities in remnants of native vegetation bordering agroecosystems. We selected 25 sampling points along a gradient of amount of surrounding agriculture and landscape diversity within natural physiognomies located in Chapada Diamantina, Bahia, Brazil. Through model selection using Akaike's information criterion, we verified the complementary roles of landscape heterogeneity and local vegetation in structuring these hymenopteran communities. Abundance in the groups showed different tendencies depending on the descriptors employed, pointing to the importance of evaluating within-group specificity. Furthermore, bees and wasps presented differential responses to landscape composition, but they did not differ in relation to configurational complexity. In more heterogeneous landscapes or sites with more complex local vegetation, the proportion of agriculture had a positive influence on the response evaluated. Efficient management of agricultural landscapes therefore requires increased landscape heterogeneity and conservation or restoration of native vegetation remnants at the local scale.

opencc-zeroDec 2014View details →

Data from: Nest suitability, fine-scale population structure and male-mediated dispersal of a solitary ground nesting bee in an urban landscape

Bees are the primary pollinators of flowering plants in almost all ecosystems. Worldwide declines in bee populations have raised awareness about the importance of their ecological role in maintaining ecosystem functioning. The naturally strong philopatric behavior that some bee species show can be detrimental to population viability through increased probability of inbreeding. Furthermore, bee populations found in human-altered landscapes, such as urban areas, can experience lower levels of gene flow and effective population sizes, increasing potential for inbreeding depression in wild bee populations. In this study, we investigated the fine-scale population structure of the solitary bee Colletes inaequalis in an urbanized landscape. First, we developed a predictive spatial model to detect suitable nesting habitat for this ground nesting bee and to inform our field search for nests. We genotyped 18 microsatellites in 548 female individuals collected from nest aggregations throughout the study area. Genetic relatedness estimates revealed that genetic similarity among individuals was slightly greater within nest aggregations than among randomly chosen individuals. However, genetic structure among nest aggregations was low (Nei's GST = 0.011). Reconstruction of parental genotypes revealed greater genetic relatedness among females than among males within nest aggregations, suggesting male-mediated dispersal as a potentially important mechanism of population connectivity and inbreeding avoidance. Size of nesting patch was positively correlated with effective population size, but not with other estimators of genetic diversity. We detected a positive trend between geographic distance and genetic differentiation between nest aggregations. Our landscape genetic models suggest that increased urbanization is likely associated with higher levels of inbreeding. Overall, these findings emphasize the importance of density and distribution of suitable nesting patches for enhancing bee population abundance and connectivity in human dominated habitats and highlights the critical contribution of landscape genetic studies for enhanced conservation and management of native pollinators.

opencc-zeroDec 2017View details →

Data from: Trap nests for bees and wasps to analyse trophic interactions in changing environments - a systematic overview and user guide

1. Trap nests are artificially made nesting resources for solitary cavity-nesting bees and wasps and allow easy quantification of multiple trophic interactions between bees, wasps, their food objects and natural enemies. 2. We synthesized all trap nest studies available in the ISI Web of Science™ to provide a comprehensive overview of trap nest research and identify common practical challenges and promising future research directions. 3. Trap nests have been used on all continents and across climate zones and publication numbers have increased exponentially since the first studies in the 1950s. Originally used for detailed exploratory natural history observations, trap nests are now also an established method in hypothesis-driven ecology and to assess environmental changes. We identify the potential of trap nests for environmental monitoring by assessing trophic interaction networks of the groups involved. While pollen collection by bees or prey hunting by wasps has often been addressed, and interactions with natural enemies were included in almost half of all publications, surprisingly few studies have quantified trophic interaction networks in response to natural and anthropogenic environmental changes. 4. By simultaneously revealing a multitude of trophic interactions, trap nests have the potential to broaden our understanding how species interaction networks are influenced by manifold environmental changes, which are pressing topics in ecological research. To foster the use of trap nests in future studies, we identify common challenges and offer guidance on practical solutions.

opencc-zeroDec 2013View details →

Data from: Bumble bee nest abundance, foraging distance, and host-plant reproduction: implications for management and conservation

Recent reports of global declines in pollinator species imply an urgent need to assess the abundance of native pollinators and density-dependent benefits for linked plants. In this study, we investigated (1) pollinator nest distributions and estimated colony abundances, (2) the relationship between abundances of foraging workers and the number of nests they represent, (3) pollinator foraging ranges, and (4) the relationship between pollinator abundance and plant reproduction. We examined these questions in an alpine ecosystem in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, focusing on four alpine bumble bee species (Bombus balteatus, B. flavifrons, B. bifarius, and B. sylvicola), and two host plants that differ in their degrees of pollinator specialization (Trifolium dasyphyllum and T. parryi). Using microsatellites, we found that estimated colony abundances among Bombus species ranged from ~18 to 78 colonies/0.01 km2. The long-tongued species B. balteatus was most common, especially high above treeline, but the subalpine species B. bifarius was unexpectedly abundant for this elevation range. Nests detected among sampled foragers of each species were correlated with the number of foragers caught. Foraging ranges were smaller than expected for all Bombus species, ranging from 25 to 110 m. Fruit set for the specialized plant, Trifolium parryi, was positively related to the abundance of its Bombus pollinator. In contrast, fruit set for the generalized plant, T. dasyphyllum, was related to abundance of all Bombus species. Because forager abundance was related to nest abundance of each Bombus species and was an equally effective predictor of plant fecundity, forager inventories are probably suitable for assessing the health of outcrossing plant populations. However, nest abundance, rather than forager abundance, better reflects demographic and genetic health in populations of eusocial pollinators such as bumble bees. Development of models incorporating the parameters we have measured here (nest abundance, forager abundance, and foraging distance) could increase the usefulness of foraging worker inventories in monitoring, managing, and conserving pollinator populations.

opencc-zeroDec 2014View details →

Data from: Phenological, but not social, variation associated with climate differences in a eusocial sweat bee, Halictus ligatus, nesting in southern Ontario

Studies of annual and geographic variation in eusocial bee populations suggest that more stringent environmental conditions result in stronger reproductive skew favouring queens, while moderate conditions favour increasing worker reproduction. To test these predictions, we compared the phenology and colony development of H. ligatus nesting in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada to a previously studied aggregation 90 km north of St. Catharines, in Victoria, Ontario. Despite the close proximity of these two locations, St. Catharines has markedly shorter winters and longer summers. Comparisons between St. Catharines in 2006 and Victoria in the 1980s and 1990s incorporate both geographic differences in climate and temporal differences due to climate change. We predicted that St. Catharines foundress queens should emerge from hibernation and initiate nests earlier in spring, giving them time to produce more workers. Since earlier studies indicated that queens have difficulty suppressing worker reproduction in larger colonies, we also predicted higher rates of worker ovarian development in St. Catharines. In spring and summer 2006, we excavated 65 H. ligatus nests, comparing their contents to 713 specimens collected in pan traps. As predicted, nests were initiated about a month earlier in St. Catharines than in Victoria, but contrary to prediction, fewer workers were produced in St. Catharines. St. Catharines workers were just as likely to have developed ovaries as Victoria workers. About 40% of St. Catharines workers were classified as reproductive, and larger reproductive workers tended to have higher ovarian scores. Early queen mortality in the longer nest cycle of St. Catharines bees may have enhanced opportunities for worker reproduction despite their smaller numbers. Novel features of H. ligatus sociobiology in St. Catharines included evidence that queens can initiate new nests following the loss of their first brood, overlap between worker and gyne production within some nests, and high rates of independent nest founding by worker-sized females, suggesting that many worker-brood females overwinter. Overall, the distinctly warmer climate of St. Catharines compared to Victoria led to earlier nest initiation and lengthening of the flight season, but not to the predicted differences in colony social organisation or queen-worker reproductive skew. A second objective of our study was to assess how well pan trap collections capture important information about demographic and social parameters important in assessing social variability in sweat bees. Nest excavations and pan traps produced similar results, suggesting that pan traps are a good alternative when nest excavations are impossible.

opencc-zeroDec 2012View details →

Data from: Phylogeny and systematics of the bee genus Osmia (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) with emphasis on North American Melanosmia: subgenera, synonymies, and nesting biology revisited

The predominantly Holarctic bee genus Osmia Panzer is species-rich and behaviourally diverse. A robust phylogeny of this genus is important for understanding the evolution of the immense variety of morphological and behavioural traits exhibited by this group. We infer a phylogeny of Osmia using DNA sequence data obtained from three nuclear genes (elongation factor 1-α, LW-rhodopsin and CAD) and the mitochondrial gene COI. Our taxon sampling places special attention on North American members of the subgenus Melanosmia Schmiedeknecht; we discuss the novel placement of a number of species traditionally assigned to O. (Melanosmia) and examine the relative support for alternative classifications of this species-rich subgenus. We use this new phylogeny to guide a reassessment of morphological and behavioural characters within Osmia. Our results provide support for the recognition of Osmia (Hapsidosmia), subgen.n., a monotypic subgenus containing Osmia iridis Cockerell & Titus. We synonymize Osmia (Mystacosmia) Snelling under O. (Melanosmia), syn.n. We synonymize Osmia (Acanthosmioides) Ashmead under O. (Melanosmia), syn.n., propose 'odontogaster species group' as a replacement for the subgeneric name Acanthosmioides, and refine the morphological characters that serve to diagnose the species group. We additionally propose 'nigrifrons species group' for a clade within O. (Melanosmia) containing most species formerly placed in Osmia (Centrosmia) Robertson. We demonstrate more cohesive patterns of nest substrate use in the nigrifrons and odontogaster species groups than was previously believed to occur, reconsider character polarity of aspects of the female mandible, and show that a large number of morphological characters have evolved convergently within the genus. In order to facilitate discussion of relevant taxa, we propose the following 15 new synonymies: O. bakeri Sandhouse under O. melanopleura Cockerell; O. crenulaticornis Michener under O. pinorum Cockerell; O. claremontensis Michener under O. sedula Sandhouse; O. cockerelli Sandhouse under O. dakotensis Michener; O. francisconis White under O. enixa Sandhouse; O. hurdi White under O. austromaritima Michener; O. sladeni Sandhouse under O. nifoata Cockerell; O. titusi Cockerell under O. phenax Cockerell; O. subtrevoris Cockerell, O. physariae Cockerell, and O. erecta Michener under O. giliarum Cockerell; and O. universitatis Cockerell, O. integrella Cockerell, O. amala Cockerell, and O. metitia Cockerell under O. nigrifrons Cresson, syn.n. We remove O. wyomingensis Michener from synonymy with O. nifoata Cockerell, stat.n., and O. pinorum Cockerell from synonymy with O. physariae Cockerell, stat.n.

opencc-zeroDec 2017View details →

Data from: Harvesting effects on wild bee communities in bioenergy grasslands depend on nesting guild

Conversion of annual crops to native perennial grasslands for bioenergy production may help conserve wild bees by enhancing nest and food resources. However, bee response to the disturbance of biomass harvesting may depend on their nesting location, thus their vulnerability to nest destruction, and the response of the forb community on which they forage. Moreover, because bees have long foraging ranges, effects of local harvesting may depend on the amount of natural habitat in the surrounding landscape. We performed a large-scale one- and two-year experiment in Michigan and Wisconsin, USA, respectively, to examine how grassland harvesting, landscape context, and study year affect the forb community, above- and belowground-nesting bee species richness, community composition, trap nest emergence, and visitation rate. In Wisconsin, harvesting increased forb richness, cover, and evenness compared to unharvested control sites. Harvesting negatively affected aboveground-nesting bee richness and emergence from trap nests, possibly because of nest destruction during the previous harvest. By contrast, harvesting positively affected belowground-nesting bee richness, possibly because of the greater food resource availability and reduced thatch allowing greater access to nesting sites in the soil. Harvesting also affected bee community composition, reflecting the increase in belowground-nesting species at harvested sites. Despite harvesting effects on forb and bee communities, there was no effect on flower visitation rate, indicating little effect on pollination function. We did not find a harvest by landscape context interaction, which, in combination with the negative harvesting effect on trap nest emergence, suggests that harvesting can affect local population growth rather than simply affecting forager aggregation in different resource environments. For bees, there was no harvest by study year interaction, indicating a consistent response over a short timescale. Similarly, in Michigan, belowground-nesting species also responded positively to harvesting, which was more pronounced in sandier soils that are preferred for nesting. However, other components of the Michigan bee and forb communities were not significantly affected by biomass harvesting. Overall, our study demonstrates that harvesting grasslands can positively affect the 80% of bee species that nest belowground by enhancing nest and/or forage resources, but that conserving aboveground-nesters may require leaving some area unharvested.

opencc-zeroNov 2021View details →

Data from: Thermal history of alfalfa leafcutting bees affects nesting and diapause incidence

Variable spring temperatures may expose developing insects to sublethal conditions, resulting in long-term consequences. The alfalfa leafcutting bee, Megachile rotundata, overwinters as a prepupa inside a brood cell, resuming development in spring. During these immobile stages of development, bees must tolerate unfavourable temperatures. In this study, we test how exposure to low temperature stress during development affects subsequent reproduction and characteristics of the F1 generation. Developing male and female M. rotundata were exposed to either constant (6°C) or fluctuating (1 h/day at 20°C) low temperature stress for one week, during the pupal stage to mimic a spring cold snap. Treated adults were marked and released into field cages, and reproductive output was compared to that of untreated control bees. Exposure to low temperatures during the pupal stage had mixed effects on reproduction and offspring characteristics. Females treated with fluctuating low temperatures were more likely to nest compared to control bees or those exposed to constant low temperature stress. Sublethal effects may have contributed to low nesting rates of bees exposed to constant low temperatures. Females from that group that were able to nest had fewer, larger offspring with high viability, suggesting a trade-off. Interestingly, offspring of bees exposed to fluctuating low temperatures were more likely to enter diapause, indicating that thermal history of parents, even during development, is an important factor in diapause determination.

Figure 2 in Urban fragment of the Atlantic Rainforest as a refuge for cavity-nesting bees and wasps (Hymenoptera: Aculeata)

Figure 2. Rarefaction curves of solitary bee species nesting on campus of Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA) and in Parque Zoobotânico Getúlio Vargas (PZBGV) located in urban fragment of Atlantic Rainforest in city of Salvador, state of Bahia, Brazil, from May 2014 to April 2016. Grey portions represent confidence intervals (95%) of diversity (Shannon-Wiener diversity index).

Figure 5 in Urban fragment of the Atlantic Rainforest as a refuge for cavity-nesting bees and wasps (Hymenoptera: Aculeata)

Figure 5. Nesting activity of most abundant bee and wasp species: Centris (Heterocentris) analis (Fabricius, 1804), Centris (Heterocentris) terminata Smith, 1874, and Trypoxylon sp.2 at Parque Zoobotânico Getúlio Vargas located in urban fragment of Atlantic Forest in city of Salvador, state of Bahia, Brazil, from May 2014 to April 2015 (1st year) and from May 2015 to April 2016 (2nd year).

Figure 4 in Urban fragment of the Atlantic Rainforest as a refuge for cavity-nesting bees and wasps (Hymenoptera: Aculeata)

Figure 4. Nesting activity of most abundant bee and wasp species: Centris (Heterocentris) analis (Fabricius, 1804), Centris (Heterocentris) terminata Smith, 1874, Podium denticulatum (Smith, 1856) at Universidade Federal da Bahia located in urban fragment of Atlantic Forest in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, from May 2014 to April 2015 (1st year) and from May 2015 to April 2016 (2nd year).

Figure 3 in Urban fragment of the Atlantic Rainforest as a refuge for cavity-nesting bees and wasps (Hymenoptera: Aculeata)

Figure 3. Rarefaction curves of species solitary wasps nesting on campus of Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA) and in Parque Zoobotânico Getúlio Vargas (PZBGV) located in urban fragment of Atlantic Rainforest in city of Salvador, state of Bahia, Brazil, from May 2014 to April 2016. Grey portions represent confidence intervals (95%) of diversity (Shannon-Wiener diversity index).