熊蜂携带花粉的电镜鉴定及与采访植物协同演化关系的研究

通过对蜜蜂总科（Apoidea）熊蜂属Bombus15个亚属、20种的熊蜂蜂王花粉篮中携带的花粉进行电镜扫描鉴定,结果结合熊蜂及植物比较形态学、熊蜂亚属及采访植物间进化关系进行了分析。结果表明：熊蜂的采访植物包括被子植物的9目、10科,涉及原始、进化及中间3种植物类型,且颚眼距较长的熊蜂亚属既采访长管花也采访短管花植物,颚眼距较短的熊蜂亚属则只倾向于采访短管花植物。     

华北地区六种熊蜂的地理分布及生态习性

2005～2007年连续3年对华北地区小峰熊蜂Bombus hypocrita、密林熊蜂B.patagiatus、红光熊蜂B.ignitus、明亮熊蜂B.lucorum、火红熊蜂B.pyrosoma和重黄熊蜂B.picipes等6种熊蜂的地理分布和生态习性进行研究。结果表明,这6种熊蜂在华北地区的地理分布差异很大,火红熊蜂分布最广,重黄熊蜂分布最窄。6种熊蜂在垂直分布上也存在差异,红光熊蜂分布于较低海拔高度地区,明亮熊蜂分布于较高海拔高度地区,但在海拔1300～1800m范围内6种熊蜂都有分布。6种熊蜂中,火红熊蜂的年活动周期较长,为180天左右。小峰熊蜂、明亮熊蜂、密林熊蜂和重黄熊蜂的年活动周期居中。红光熊蜂的年活动周期最短,为140天左右。6种熊蜂采访植物涉及到17科63种,采访植物存在一定的偏好性,主要采访豆科、菊科、蔷薇科和唇形科等植物;而且,不同种熊蜂采集植物的种类也存在较大差异。     

中国-喜马拉雅三种黄耆属植物与其传粉熊蜂的空间分布预测

依赖于动物传粉获得繁殖成功的植物的分布与其传粉动物的地理分布有着密切联系。预测未来气候变化对植物及其传粉动物地理分布的影响对生物多样性保护具有重要意义。本文通过对中国-喜马拉雅3种黄耆属(Astragalus)植物, 即弯齿黄耆(A. camptodontus)、黑毛黄耆(A. pullus)和笔直黄耆(A. strictus), 及其传粉熊蜂(Bombus)的野外调查, 以及收集来源于数据库的黄耆和熊蜂的543个物种分布点和13个环境因子数据, 结合物种可能出现的完全扩散、不扩散和仅熊蜂扩散3种迁移模式, 利用MaxEnt模型模拟了3种黄耆属植物与2种传粉熊蜂即橘尾熊蜂(Bombus friseanus)和红束熊蜂(B. rufofasciatus)在历史阶段(1970-2000年)和2100年两种温室气体浓度情景(ssp245和ssp585)下的适宜分布区变化。结果表明: 3种黄耆属植物均主要依赖于熊蜂传粉, 黄耆与其传粉熊蜂的主要适宜分布区为中国-喜马拉雅地区, 到2100年它们的分布区呈现向西北方向扩张的趋势, 而在东南部的分布区减少。当模型中考虑与传粉熊蜂的互作后, 3种黄耆属植物的潜在地理分布范围减少了15.83%-83.98%。在温室气体中低浓度情景(ssp245)下, 3种黄耆属植物与其传粉熊蜂的空间匹配增加, 而在高浓度情景(ssp585)下弯齿黄耆、黑毛黄耆与橘尾熊蜂的空间匹配降低; 如果物种不扩散或仅熊蜂扩散, 笔直黄耆与红束熊蜂的空间匹配降低。气候变化和物种的扩散能力可能引起黄耆与其传粉熊蜂出现空间不匹配。同时, 模型预测显示影响黄耆和熊蜂分布的环境因子不同, 但海拔是最主要的环境因子。由于与传粉者的相互作用对许多植物物种的生命周期具有重要意义, 因而本研究可以更好地理解气候变化对植物与其传粉者空间分布的潜在影响, 特别是对那些地理范围受限制的植物。     

Macroevolutionary patterns of bumblebee body size: detecting the interplay between natural and sexual selection

Bumblebees and other eusocial bees offer a unique opportunity to analyze the evolution of body size differences between sexes. The workers, being sterile females, are not subject to selection for reproductive function and thus provide a natural control for parsing the effects of selection on reproductive function (i.e., sexual and fecundity selection) from other natural selection. Using a phylogenetic comparative approach, we explored the allometric relationships among queens, males, and workers in 70 species of bumblebees (Bombus sp.). We found hyperallometry in thorax width for males relative to workers, indicating greater evolutionary divergence of body size in males than in sterile females. This is consistent with the hypothesis that selection for reproductive function, most probably sexual selection, has caused divergence in male size among species. The slope for males on workers was significantly steeper than that for queens on workers and the latter did not depart from isometry, providing further evidence of greater evolutionary divergence in male size than female size, and no evidence that reproductive selection has accelerated divergence of females. We did not detect significant hyperallometry when male size was regressed directly on queen size and our results thus add the genus Bombus to the increasing list of clades that have female-larger sexual size dimorphism and do not conform to Rensch's rule when analyzed according to standard methodology. Nevertheless, by using worker size as a common control, we were able to demonstrate that bumblee species do show the evolutionary pattern underlying Rensch's rule, that being correlated evolution of body size in males and females, but with greater evolutionary divergence in males.     

Spontaneous relational and object similarity in wild bumblebees

Being able to abstract relations of similarity is considered one of the hallmarks of human cognition. While previous research has shown that other animals (e.g. primates) can attend to relational similarity, they struggle to focus on object similarity. This is in contrast with humans. And it is precisely the ability to attend to objects that it is argued to make relational reasoning uniquely human. What about invertebrates? Despite earlier studies indicating that bees are capable of learning abstract relationships (e.g. ‘same’ and ‘different’), no research has investigated whether bees can spontaneously attend to relational similarity and whether they can do so when relational matches compete with object matches. To test this, a spatial matching task (with and without competing object matches) previously used with children and great apes was adapted for use with wild-caught bumblebees. When object matches were not present, bumblebees spontaneously used relational similarity. Importantly, when competing object matches were present, bumblebees still focused on relations over objects. These findings indicate that the absence of object bias is also present in invertebrates and suggest that the relational gap between humans and other animals is due to their preference for relations over objects.     

Heritability of sperm length in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris

Sperm length is highly variable, both between and within species, but the evolutionary significance of this variation is poorly understood. Sexual selection on sperm length requires a significant additive genetic variance, but few studies have actually measured this. Here we present the first estimates of narrow sense heritability of sperm length in a social insect, the bumblebee Bombus terrestris. In spite of a balanced and straightforward rearing design of colonies, and the possibility to replicate measurements of sperm within single males nested within colonies, the analysis proved to be complex. Several appropriate statistical models were derived, each depending on different assumptions. The heritability estimates obtained ranged from h ² = 0.197 ± 0.091 to h ² = 0.429 ± 0.154. All our estimates were substantially lower than previous estimates of sperm length heritability in non-social insects and vertebrates.     

Effects of resource availability and social parasite invasion on field colonies of Bombus terrestris

Abstract.  1. The survival, growth and fecundity of bumblebee colonies are affected by the availability of food resources and presence of natural enemies. Social parasites (cuckoo bumblebees and other bumblebees) can invade colonies and reduce or halt successful reproduction; however, little is known about the frequency of invasion or what environmental factors determine their success in the field.
2. We used 48 experimental colonies of the bumblebee Bombus terrestris , and manipulated both resource availability at the landscape scale and date of colony founding, to explore invasion rates of social parasites and their effect on the performance of host colonies.
3. Proximity to abundant forage resources (fields of flowering oilseed rape) and early colony founding significantly increased the probability of parasite invasion and thus offset the potential positive effects of these factors on bumblebee colony performance.
4. The study concludes that optimal colony location may be among intermediate levels of resources and supports schemes designed to increase the heterogeneity of forage resources for bumblebees across agricultural landscapes.     

Selection for non-diapause in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris, with notes on the effect of inbreeding

Bumblebees are generally believed to be annual insects. However, here we will show that under laboratory conditions the bumblebee Bombus terrestris (L.) can produce a second generation without a period of cold storage (diapause) or CO₂ narcosis (a method to break diapause). It is also shown that this so-called non-diapause trait can be selected for. The percentage of non-diapausing queens increased from 8% (minimum) to 97% (maximum) in two generations of selection. However, it was not possible to maintain isofemale non-diapause lines. Colonies of the fourth and fifth generation remained small (expressed in worker number) and produced a small number of queens. Also the percentage of queens that started laying eggs (defined as the percentage non-diapause) decreased in the fourth and fifth generations. To study whether this decline of the non-diapause lines was caused by inbreeding, a control experiment was conducted. In this control experiment queens were mated with their brothers (full-sib mating) for several generations and the number of queens that start egg laying was measured. This revealed that inbreeding can have a negative effect on the egg-laying capacities of queens thus causing the decline of inbred (non-diapause) lines.     

Sperm reduces female longevity and increases melanization of the spermatheca in the bumblebee <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bombus terrestris</Emphasis> L.

Here we present evidence that the male mating products (sperm and gland products) reduce survival during hibernation of queens of the bumblebee B. terrestris. Most remarkably, the inseminated queens are significantly more likely to have melanized spermathecae than their virgin sisters. Although we could not detect a direct relationship between these two findings they are quite remarkable since B. terrestris is a monandrous and comparably long-lived insect where sexual conflict is unlikely to evolve. The reduced survival can probably be attributed to a general cost of maintaining the sperm, whereas the presence of melanized spermathecae in the inseminated queens may indicate a pathogen transferred during mating or genetic incompatibilities between males and queens. Received 30 December 2007; revised 27 April 2008; accepted 1 May 2008.