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131 results for “solitary bee”
Data from: When beggars are choosers-How nesting of a solitary bee is affected by temporal dynamics of pollen plants in the landscape
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Data from: Resident viruses, but not honeybee-associated viruses, impair solitary bee fitness in the field
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Population assessment and foraging ecology of the rare solitary bee Anthophora retusa at Seaford Head Nature reserve
<p><em>Anthophora retusa</em> is a rare solitary bee which has declined throughout Britain and other European countries since the 1990s. It is thought to be restricted to five sites in Britain. However, information on these remaining populations is limited. Knowledge on population size, dispersal distance, habitat and forage requirements are important for successful conservation of species. The population of <em>A. retusa</em> at the Seaford Head Nature reserve in East Sussex was surveyed. Using mark recapture the population was estimated in 2018 and 2019 to be fewer than 200 individuals, with the male population increasing from 47 in 2018 to 167 in 2019. The female population was 44 in 2018 but due to zero recaptures in 2019, no population estimate was possible. Bees seem to be geographically restricted to a 25ha area within the reserve. The most visited flower species by females was <em>Glechoma hederacea </em>(66% of visits) but flower preference changed throughout the flight season, shifting to Fabaceae species and <em>Iris foetidissima</em> with 16 plant groups identified in pollen samples. Although the exact location of nesting sites was not determined with certainty it’s thought they are nesting in the loess deposits at the top of the inaccessible sea cliff face. The average distance between recaptures was 122m, perhaps indicating low dispersal. This project suggests the presence of appropriate nesting sites, potentially soft exposed soil, may be limiting <em>A. retusa</em> distribution as they appear to forage on common plant species. More research is needed on the exact nesting requirements of the species.</p>
Data from: Two-year bee, or not two-year bee? How voltinism is affected by temperature and season length in a high-elevation solitary bee
Organisms must often make developmental decisions without complete information about future conditions. This uncertainty—for example, about the duration of conditions favorable for growth—can favor bet-hedging strategies. Here, we investigated the causes of life-cycle variation in Osmia iridis, a bee exhibiting a possible bet-hedging strategy with co-occurring one- and two-year life cycles. One-year bees reach adulthood quickly but die if they fail to complete pupation before winter; two-year bees adopt a low-risk, low-reward strategy of postponing pupation until the second summer. We reared larval bees in incubators in various experimental conditions and found that warmer—but not longer—summers, and early birth dates, increased the frequency of one-year life cycles. Using in situ temperature measurements and developmental trajectories of laboratory- and field-reared bees, we estimated degree-days required to reach adulthood in a single year. Local long-term (1950–2015) climate records reveal that this heat requirement is met in only ~7% of summers, suggesting that the observed distribution of life cycles is adaptive. Warming summers will likely decrease average generation times in these populations. Nevertheless, survival of bees attempting one-year life cycles—particularly those developing from late-laid eggs—will be <100%; consequently, we expect the life-cycle polymorphism to persist.
Increasing agricultural habitat reduces solitary bee offspring number and weight in apple orchards through reduced floral diet diversity and increased fungicide risk
<p>1. Threats to bee pollinators such as land use change, high pesticide risk, and reduced floral diet diversity are usually assessed independently, even though they often co-occur to impact bees in agroecosystems.</p> <p>2. We established populations of the non-native mason bee O. cornifrons at 17 NY apple orchards varying in proportion of surrounding agriculture and measured floral diet diversity and pesticide risk levels in the pollen provisions they produced. We used path analysis to test the direct and indirect effects of different habitats, diet diversity, and pesticide risk on emergent female offspring number and weight.</p> <p>3. Our results showed that high proportions of agricultural habitat surrounding bee nests indirectly reduced the number of female offspring produced, by reducing floral diet diversity in pollen.</p> <p>4. When proportion agriculture surrounding bee nests was high, bees collected increased proportions of Rosaceae in their pollen provisions, which marginally (0.05<p<0.1) increased fungicide risk levels in pollen, which, in turn, marginally reduced female offspring weight. In contrast, female offspring weight increased as proportion surrounding open habitat (wildflowers, grassland, pasture) increased, but this effect was not influenced by proportion Rosaceae or fungicide risk levels in pollen.</p> <p>5. Synthesis and Applications: To promote healthy O. cornifrons populations in apple, we must maintain floral resource diversity and open habitats, while reducing fungicide risk levels and agricultural habitats. More broadly, our results show that land use change, in the form of increasing agricultural habitat, can negatively impact bee populations in agroecosystems indirectly through multiple, simultaneous threats. We must strive to understand these complex interactions between simultaneous threats to maintain healthy bee populations in agroecosystems, where we rely on them for pollination.</p>
Data from: Diverse pollen nutrition can improve the development of solitary bees but does not mitigate negative pesticide impacts
<p>Floral resource loss and pesticide exposure are major threats to bees in intensively managed agroecosystems, but interactions among these drivers remain poorly understood. Altered composition and lowered diversity of pollen nutrition may reinforce negative pesticide impacts on bees. Here we investigated the development and survival of the solitary bee <em>Osmia bicornis</em> provisioned with three different pollen types, as well as a mixture of these types representing a higher pollen diversity. We exposed bees of each nutritional treatment to five pesticides at different concentrations in the laboratory. Two field-realistic concentrations of three nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) modulating insecticides (thiacloprid, sulfoxaflor and flupyradifurone), as well as of two fungicides (azoxystrobin and tebuconazole) were examined. We further measured the expression of two detoxification genes (<em>CYP9BU1</em>, <em>CYP9BU2</em>) under exposure to thiacloprid across different nutrition treatments as a potential mechanistic pathway driving pesticide-nutrition interactions. We found that more diverse pollen nutrition reduced development time, enhanced pollen efficacy (cocoon weight divided by consumed pollen weight) and pollen consumption, and increased weight of <em>O. bicornis</em> after larval development (cocoon weight). Contrary to fungicides, high field-realistic concentrations of all three insecticides negatively affected <em>O. bicornis</em> by extending development times. Moreover, sulfoxaflor and flupyradifurone also reduced pollen efficacy and cocoon weight, and sulfoxaflor reduced pollen consumption and increased mortality. The expression of detoxification genes differed across pollen nutrition types, but was not enhanced after exposure to thiacloprid. Our findings highlight that lowered diversity of pollen nutrition and high field-realistic exposure to nAChR modulating insecticides negatively affected the development of <em>O. bicornis</em>, but we found no mitigation of negative pesticide impacts through increased pollen diversity. These results have important implications for risk assessment for bee pollinators, indicating that negative effects of nAChR modulating insecticides to developing solitary bees are currently underestimated.</p>
Body mass, temperature, and pathogen intensity differentially affect critical thermal maxima and their population-level variation in a solitary bee
<p>Climate change presents a major threat to species distribution and persistence. Understanding what abiotic or biotic factors influence the thermal tolerances of natural populations is critical to assessing their vulnerability under rapidly changing thermal regimes. This study evaluates how body mass, local climate, and pathogen intensity influence heat tolerance and its population-level variation (SD) among individuals of the solitary bee <em>Xenoglossa pruinosa</em>. We assess the sex-specific relationships between these factors and heat tolerance given the differences in size between sexes and the ground-nesting behavior of the females. We collected <em>X. pruinosa</em> individuals from fourteen sites across Pennsylvania, USA that varied in mean temperature, precipitation, and soil texture. We measured the critical thermal maxima (CT<sub>max</sub>) of <em>X. pruinosa</em> individuals as our proxy for heat tolerance, and used quantitative PCR to determine relative intensities of three parasite groups—trypanosomes, <em>Spiroplasma apis</em> (mollicute bacteria), and <em>Vairimorpha apis</em> (microsporidian). While there was no difference in CT<sub>max</sub> between the sexes, we found that CT<sub>max</sub> increased significantly with body mass, and that this relationship was stronger for males than for females. Air temperature, precipitation, and soil texture did not predict mean CT<sub>max</sub> for either sex. However, population-level variation in CT<sub>max</sub> was strongly and negatively correlated with air temperature, which suggests that temperature is acting as an environmental filter. Of the parasites screened, only trypanosome intensity correlated with heat tolerance. Specifically, trypanosome intensity negatively correlated with the CT<sub>max</sub> of female <em>X. pruinosa</em> but not males. Our results highlight the importance of considering size, sex, and infection status when evaluating thermal tolerance traits. Importantly, this study reveals the need to evaluate trends in the variation of heat tolerance within and between populations, and consider implications of reduced variation in heat tolerance for the persistence of ectotherms in future climate conditions. </p>
Low toxicity crop fungicide (Fenbuconazole) impacts reproductive male quality signals leading to a reduction of mating success in a wild solitary bee
<p>Recent reports on bee health suggest that sub-lethal doses of pesticides have negative effects on wild bee reproduction and ultimately on their population growth.</p> <p>Females of the solitary horned mason bee, Osmia cornuta, evaluate thoracic vibrations and odours of males to assess male quality. When certain criteria are met, the female accepts the male and copulates. However, these signals were found to be modified by sub-lethal doses of pesticides in other hymenopterans. Here, we tested whether sub-lethal doses of a commonly used fungicide (Fenbuconazole) impact male quality signals and mating success in O. cornuta.</p> <p>Males exposed to Fenbuconazole exhibited reduced thoracic vibrations and an altered cuticular hydrocarbon profile compared to the control bees. Moreover, males exposed to the fungicide were less successful in mating than control males.</p> <p>Synthesis and applications: Our results indicate that a low toxicity fungicide can negatively affect male reproductive success by altering behavioural and chemical cues. This could explain the decreasing pollinator populations in a pesticide-polluted environment. This study highlights the need for a more comprehensive approach, including behaviour and chemical cues, when testing new pesticides and a more cautionary approach to the pesticides already used on crops.</p>
Nutritional stress exacerbates impact of a novel insecticide on solitary bees' behaviour, reproduction and survival
<p>Pesticide exposure<span> and food stress are major threats to bees, but their potential synergistic impacts under field-realistic conditions remain poorly understood and are not considered in current pesticide risk assessments. We conducted a semi-field experiment to examine the single and interactive effects of the novel insecticide flupyradifurone (FPF) and nutritional stress on fitness proxies in the solitary bee <em>Osmia bicornis</em>. Individually marked bees were released into flight cages with monocultures of either buckwheat, wild mustard or purple tansy, which were assigned to an insecticide treatment (FPF or control) in a crossed design. Nutritional stress, which was high in bees foraging on buckwheat, intermediate on wild mustard and low on purple tansy, modulated the impact of insecticide exposure. Within the first day after application of FPF, mortality of bees feeding on buckwheat was 29 times higher compared to control treatments, while mortality of FPF exposed and control bees was similar in the other two plant species. Moreover, we found negative synergistic impacts of FPF and nutritional stress on offspring production, flight activity, flight duration, and flower visitation frequency. These results reveal that environmental policies and risk assessment schemes that ignore interactions among anthropogenic stressors will fail to adequately protect bees and the pollination services they provide.</span></p>
Supplementary code and data for: Symbiotic bacteria and fungi proliferate during diapause and may enhance overwintering survival in a solitary bee
<div> <div> <div> <p>Host-microbe interactions underlie the development and fitness of many macroorganisms, including bees. Whereas many social bees benefit from vertically transmitted gut bacteria, current data suggests that solitary bees, which comprise the vast majority of species diversity within bees, lack a specialized gut microbiome. Here we examine the composition and abundance of bacteria and fungi throughout the complete life cycle of the ground-nesting solitary bee Anthophora bomboides standfordiana. In contrast to expectations, immature bee stages maintain a distinct core microbiome consisting of Actinobacterial genera (Streptomyces, Nocardiodes) and the fungus Moniliella spathulata. Dormant (diapausing) larval bees hosted the most abundant and distinctive bacteria and fungi, attaining 33 and 52 times their initial copy number, respectively. We tested two adaptive hypotheses regarding microbial functions for diapausing bees. First, using isolated bacteria and fungi, we found that Streptomyces from brood cells inhibited the growth of multiple pathogenic filamentous fungi, suggesting a role in pathogen protection during overwintering, when bees face high pathogen pressure. Second, sugar alcohol composition changed in tandem with major changes in fungal abundance, suggesting links with bee cold tolerance or overwintering biology. We find that Anthophora bomboides hosts a conserved core microbiome that may provide key fitness advantages through larval development and diapause, which raises the question of how this microbiome is maintained and faithfully transmitted between generations. Our results suggest that focus on microbiomes of mature or active insect developmental stages may overlook stage-specific symbionts and microbial fitness contributions during host dormancy.</p> </div> </div> </div>
Data from: Osmia3DNest – novel designed 3D printed artificial nest for solitary cavity-nesting bees
<p>The availability and appropriateness of nesting sites significantly influence the reproductive success and overall welfare of wild bees. Human-induced factors contribute to the destruction of natural nesting habitats. To address these limitations, innovative solutions such as the development of artificial nests, as indicated in recent studies, offer alternative nest sites to support wild bee populations. We designed the Osmia3DNest, a 3D printed standardized nest tube for solitary cavity-nesting bees, aiming to provide a safety for the environment life-long, time-saving, and biodegradable product that anyone can print. We proudly present the two Osmia3DNest models for mason bees – closed and open – using PLA filament. We demonstrate the effectiveness of Osmia3DNest on mason bee reproduction parameters compared with traditional reed nests. Osmia3DNest can be an alternative to the other artificial nests, which people can customize for their necessity depending on their place of living (rural or urban area), and they can also be washed and reused several times and then decomposed. Osmia3DNest holds potential for wildlife biologists, management of pollinators, and educational outreach, offering adaptability for different bee species and experimental needs.</p>
Environmentally acquired gut-associated bacteria are not critical for growth and survival in a solitary bee, Megachile rotundata
<p>Social bees have been extensively studied for their gut microbial functions, but the significance of the gut microbiota in solitary bees remain less explored. Solitary bee, <em>Megachile rotundata</em> females provision their offspring with pollen from various plant species, harboring a diverse microbial community that colonizes larvae guts. The <em>Apilactobacillus</em> is the most abundant microbe, but evidence concerning the effects of <em>Apilactobacillus</em> and other provision microbes on growth and survival are lacking. We hypothesized that the presence of <em>Apilactobacillus</em> in abundance would enhance larval and prepupal development, weight, and survival, while the absence of intact microbial communities was expected to have a negative impact on bee fitness. We reared larvae on pollen provisions with naturally collected microbial communities (Natural pollen) or devoid of microbial communities (Sterile pollen). We also assessed the impact of introducing <em>Apilactobacillus</em> <em>micheneri</em> by adding it to both types of pollen provisions. Feeding larvae with sterile pollen + <em>A. micheneri</em> led to the highest mortality rate, followed by natural pollen + <em>A. micheneri</em>, and sterile pollen. Larval development was significantly delayed in groups fed with sterile pollen. Interestingly, larval and prepupal weights did not significantly differ across treatments compared to natural pollen-fed larvae. 16S rRNA gene sequencing found a dominance of <em>Sodalis,</em> when <em>A. micheneri</em> was introduced to natural pollen<em>.</em> The presence of <em>Sodalis</em> with abundant <em>A. michene</em>ri suggests potential crosstalk between both, shaping bee nutrition and health. Hence, this study highlights that the reliance on non-host specific environmental bacteria may not impact fitness of <em>M. rotundata</em>.</p>
Spillover of chalkbrood fungi to native solitary bee species from non-native congeners
<p>Introduced, managed bees such as mason bees (genus <em>Osmia</em>) can confer significant pollination benefits to agricultural systems, but a risk of introducing non-native species into new ecosystems is the co-introduction of pathogens along with them. Pathogen spillover to wild, native bees may then drive native bee species declines.</p> <p>This study examined prevalence of the chalkbrood-causing fungal genus <em>Ascosphaera</em> in the nests of both non-native and native mason bee species. We conducted large-scale trap-nesting and pan-trapping efforts across the Mid-Atlantic United States with community scientists. Using molecular methods, nests were screened for all known <em>Ascosphaera</em> species in which genetic sequences have been published. After finding <em>Ascosphaera</em> species first described in Asia, we compared their local prevalence with the local abundance of mason bees from Asia. Lastly, we compared the prevalence of co-introduced Ascosphaera species across sites with a variety of landcover profiles.</p> <p>Results indicate species originally described in Japan, <em>Ascosphaera naganensis</em> and <em>Ascosphaera fusiformis</em>, are now present in native Virginia mason bees, <em>Osmia lignaria</em> and <em>Osmia georgica</em>, with high prevalence of <em>A. naganensis</em> found in <em>O. georgica</em>.</p> <p>We also found that the declining native mason bee <em>O. georgica</em> experienced higher prevalence of non-native <em>Ascosphaera</em> spp. at sites with larger numbers of non-native <em>O. cornifrons</em> and <em>O. taurus</em>, perhaps indicating greater likelihood of spillover of these <em>Ascosphaera</em> species with greater sources of transmission. Lastly, when the proportion of agricultural landcover surrounding bee nests was high, there was significantly greater prevalence of non-native <em>Ascosphaera</em> in <em>O. georgica</em> compared to more natural landcover types.</p> <p>Synthesis and applications. Through community science programming, we documented species of Japanese chalkbrood fungi inside native mason bee nests in North America. Native mason bees encounter non-native fungi more frequently with increasing abundance of non-native mason bees. Agricultural landscapes may exacerbate spillover of non-native fungi for native mason bees. The use of non-native bee species in agriculture should involve monitoring native bees for pathogens in the surrounding area for detection of spillover and species declines.</p>
Environmentally acquired gut-associated bacteria are not critical for growth and survival in a solitary bee, Megachile rotundata
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Increasing agricultural habitat reduces solitary bee offspring number and weight in apple orchards through reduced floral diet diversity and increased fungicide risk
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Data from: Osmia3DNest – novel designed 3D printed artificial nest for solitary cavity-nesting bees
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Data from: Diverse pollen nutrition can improve the development of solitary bees but does not mitigate negative pesticide impacts
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Landscape context affects both capture probability and abundance of solitary bees in cities
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Single and combined exposure to ‘bee safe’ pesticides alter behaviour and offspring production in a ground-nesting solitary bee (Xenoglossa pruinosa)
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Spillover of chalkbrood fungi to native solitary bee species from non-native congeners
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