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1.
Summary Orchid bees (Euglossini) provide a potentially informative contrast for examining origins of advanced social behaviour in bees because they are the only tribe in the apine clade that do not form large colonies or have queens and workers. We investigated natural nests of Euglossa hyacinthina Dressler, an orchid bee that nests singly or in groups. By comparing the two types of nests, we examined if individuals in a group merely share the nest (are communal) or exhibit a level of social organization where there is reproductive division of labour among the females. Observations are consistent with communal nesting, indicating that all females in group nests are reproductively similar to the solitary nesting females because the provisioning of young, as well as the ovary development and mating status of females sharing nests were not different than that of solitary-nesting females. Also, multiple female nests did not produce a female-biased brood as predicted for nests with reproductive division of labour. We also investigated potential advantages of group nesting vs. individual nesting. We demonstrate that per capita offspring production is lower in nests with more than one female. However, we found that nests with single females were left unattended for longer periods of time during foraging, and that there was a high incidence of natural enemy attack in nests when females were absent. Group and solitary nesting may be advantageous under different conditions.Received 3 December 2002; revised 7 March 2003; accepted 2 April 2003.  相似文献   

2.
Ecological constraints such as resource limitation, unfavourable weather conditions, and parasite pressure have long been considered some of the most important selective pressures for the evolution of sociality. In the present study, we assess the fitness consequences of these three ecological factors on reproductive success of solitary nests and social colonies in the socially polymorphic small carpenter bee, Ceratina australensis, based on 982 nests collected over four reproductive periods. Nest site limitation was predicted to decrease opportunities for independent nest initiation and increase the frequency of social nesting. Nest sites were not limiting in this species and the frequency of social nesting was consistent across the four brood‐rearing periods studied. Unfavourable weather was predicted to lower the frequency of female dispersal from their natal nests and to limit the brood‐rearing season; this would increase the frequency and fitness of social colonies. Daily temperature and precipitation accumulation varied between seasons but were not correlated with reproductive success in this bee. Increased parasite pressure is predicted to increase the frequency and fitness of social colonies because solitary bees must leave the nest unattended during foraging bouts and are less able to defend the nest against parasites. Severe parasitism by a chalcid wasp (Eurytoma sp.) resulted in low reproductive success and total nest failure in solitary nests. Social colonies had higher reproductive success and were never extirpated by parasites. The high frequency of solitary nests suggests that this is the optimal strategy. However, social colonies have a selective advantage over solitary nesting females during periods of extreme parasite pressure, and we suggest that social nesting represents a form of bet‐hedging against unpredictable fluctuations in parasite number. © 2011 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2011, 103 , 57–67.  相似文献   

3.
Honey‐making bee colonies in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park were investigated with Batwa Pygmies locating 228 nests of Apis and five stingless bees (Meliponini). The relative importance of predation, food supply, nesting site, and elevation affecting abundance were studied for meliponines in particular. Nest predation and overall nest abundance had no correlation with elevation along a 1400 m gradient, nor did flowering phenology or pollen collection. Many suitable, large trees were unoccupied by bee nests. In 174 ha of forest plots, 2 Meliponula lendliana, 13 M. nebulata, 16 M. ferruginea, 16 M. bocandei, and 20 Apis mellifera adansonii nests occurred, suggesting a habitat‐wide density of 39 nests/km2. Compared to other studies, Ugandan Meliponini were uncommon (0.27 colonies/ha, tropical mean = 1.9/ha), while Apis mellifera was numerous (0.12 nests/ha, tropical mean = 0.06/ha), despite park policy allowing humans to exploit Apis. Meliponine colony mortality from predators averaged 12 percent/yr and those near ground were most affected. Tool‐using humans and chimpanzees caused 82 percent of stingless bee nest predation. Selective factors affecting nest heights and habit may include auditory hunting by predators for buzzing bees, and indirect mutualists such as termites that leave potential nesting cavities. Mobility and free‐nesting by honey bee colonies should enable rapid community recovery after mortality, especially in parks where human honey hunting is frequent, compared to sedentary and nest‐site‐bound Meliponini.  相似文献   

4.
We studied nest visitation behavior of the ground-nesting beeCrawfordapis luctuosa (Colletidae) at the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve, Puntarenas Province, Costa Rica. Some females entered many nests, while others consistently entered only one nest. Multiple nest entry was exhibited by bees we called floaters, and those bees that consistently entered only one nest were provisioning bees. Provisioning bees abandoned their old nests after provisioning periods and became nonprovisioning bees that floated over the nesting area. Floating behavior was a nest-searching behavior typified by oscillating flights just above the ground (<15 cm). Floaters investigated available nests and were not observed to interact aggressively with nest owners. Upon establishing a new nest, floaters became provisioning bees.  相似文献   

5.
Andrena agilissima is a bee that nests on sloped or vertical earth walls. Data from 3 years of fieldwork presented here show that this species is communal and uses the same nesting site for many years. On an earth wall on Isola d'Elba (Tuscany, Italy), covered with many bee nest entrances, we studied an aggregation of Andrena agilissima to determine if bees share entrances, if the sharing provides evidence for subterranean connections, and if bees involved in sharing show a division of labor. We marked several females coming out of the same entrance, as well as recapturing the same females using different entrances. No division of labor was observed in our observations.  相似文献   

6.
A. Hefetz    J. Tengo 《Journal of Zoology》1992,226(4):529-537
Chalicodoma siculum (Rossi) is a mason bee that usually nests in dispersed sites, constructing spherical mud nests on twigs or hemispherical nests on hard surfaces. Under favourable conditions it may nest in aggregations of several hundred bees. At the nesting aggregation, nest usurpation often occurs, either by the laying of eggs in finished but unsealed cells, by opening a sealed cell and replacing its egg, or by taking over an unfinished cell. Mutual construction and provisioning of a single cell by several females was also often observed. Because participant bees display extreme aggression in prolonged disputes over cell ownership, these interactions can be regarded as competitive rather than cooperative. Moreover, since the total investment in such cells is not different from that in cells located in dispersed sites, the female that actually manages to lay an egg gains by participating in a cell under construction.
We discuss the advantages of nesting in aggregations vs. the risks of being usurped, as selective forces underlying nesting behaviour of bees.  相似文献   

7.
Relocation to novel nests (sometimes called drifting) in flying Hymenoptera is often interpreted as the result of navigation error and guard bees erroneously admitting foreign individuals into the nest. We studied nest fidelity and nest relocation of both females and males in a nesting aggregation of Xylocopa virginica in southern Ontario, Canada, where females can nest either solitarily or socially. Adult female and male bees were trapped at nest entrances, individually paint marked, and then released. Subsequent recapture patterns were used to assess nest fidelity: that is, how faithful individuals were to their home nest and how often they moved to another nest. Bees were considered to have relocated if they were recaptured in a nest different from the one in which they were initially trapped, indicating that they had spent at least one night in a new nest. Some females were only captured in one nest, some occasionally moved to new nests, temporarily or permanently, and a few were never caught in the same nest twice. In addition, females relocated to nests that were further away in 2007 when population density was low, suggesting that they seek out and claim nesting spaces when they are available. Males relocated more frequently than females, with most drifting from nest to nest in no obvious pattern. This indicates that males spend the night wherever space is available or in nests nearest to their territories. This study reveals that for both female and male X. virginica, nest membership is not as stable as once thought.  相似文献   

8.
Within the bee family Halictidae there have been three origins of sociality. Although detection of origins and reversal from sociality requires phylogenetic studies, at a behavioural level a predisposition to sociality can be detected by analysis of intra-specific interactions. We studied aspects of nesting biology and behavioural interactions in Lasioglossum (Lasioglossum) majus, a poorly known halictine inhabiting temperate regions of Europe, which is suspected to be solitary. Nests were found to be largely used by one female, but some were shared by more than one individual. These few nests, whose entrances were very close to each other, were found to be connected underground. A few individuals were observed to enter in a nest where a female was waiting, behaving as a guard and allowing the incoming bee to enter the nest. By use of circle-tube experiments, the behavioural repertoire exhibited by females during encounters was assessed. Levels of withdrawal and cooperative events were comparable with those observed in other solitary nesting species, but aggressive events were very rare, as in several observed communal species. We conclude that L. (L.) majus females, despite general solitary nesting, possess behavioural components enabling them to adopt, probably in high nest-density areas, nest-sharing strategies. A similar kind of local social polymorphism has been observed in two other species of the subgenus Lasioglossum, but these are the first data available on a European species and the first record of subterranean connections among nests of halictid bees.  相似文献   

9.
Feral European Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) has been identified as a potential nest competitor for Australian hollow nesting species, but few studies have investigated the impact of feral honey bee competition on Threatened species. Our study used data from Glossy Black‐cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus lathami halmaturinus) nests on Kangaroo Island, monitored and managed over an 11‐year period, and found 12% of nests became occupied by feral honey bees during that period. Our results indicate that feral honey bees were less likely to occupy nest boxes made of PVC (5%) compared with wooden nest boxes (24%) or natural hollows in Eucalyptus trees (14%). The removal of feral honey bee hives from nests is a priority for long‐term conservation of glossy black‐cockatoos on Kangaroo Island. We recommend that PVC nest boxes are chosen for future nesting habitat restoration, due to the more frequent use of wooden nest boxes by feral honey bees.  相似文献   

10.
Africanized honey bees (Apis mellifera scutellata) compete with endangered parrots for nest boxes and can hamper conservation efforts. We tested an integrated pest management push‐pull protocol in the Atlantic Forest in São Paulo, Brazil, in an effort to prevent bee swarms from colonizing nest boxes (N = 30 in the forest plus five in aviaries) meant for use by Vinaceous‐breasted Amazons (Amazona vinacea). Fifteen parrot nest boxes were treated with a permethrin insecticide to “push” scout bees away and each parrot box was paired with a bee trap box containing a pheromone lure to “pull” bees. Over a 1‐yr period (March 2013 to March 2014), 29 insect colonies moved into 18 of the 35 trap boxes. Nine Africanized honey bee, three native Jatai bee (Tetragonisca sp.), and 17 wasp colonies occupied trap boxes. Only one experimental push‐pull pair untreated parrot box was invaded by bees and no parrot boxes in aviaries were colonized. Four of the parrot nest boxes were occupied by birds during our study. Although none were used by Vinaceous‐breasted Amazons, Southern House Wrens (Troglodytes musculus), Green‐winged Saltators (Saltator similis), and Plain Parakeets (Brotogeris tirica) nested in the boxes and all nests were successful. Although long‐term studies are needed before drawing conclusions about the effectiveness of trap boxes, our results suggest that a push‐pull protocol may prove useful for reducing the use of nest boxes meant for parrots and other cavity‐nesting birds by Africanized honey bees and other insects.  相似文献   

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