More is less: mass-flowering fruit tree crops dilute parasite transmission between bees

Parasites influence wild bee population dynamics and are regarded as one of the main drivers of wild bee decline. Most of these parasites are mainly transmitted between bee species via the use of shared floral resources. Disturbance of the plant-pollinator network at a location can hence disturb the transmission of these parasites. Expansion and intensification of agriculture, another major driver of wild bee decline, often disturbs local plant-pollinator networks by altering the availability and diversity of floral resources. Mass-flowering crops are an extreme example as they provide an abundance of floral resources for a short period of time, substantially altering the present plant-pollinator network. This likely has repercussions on parasite transmission in the pollinator community. Using the bloom of mass-flowering crops we tested the hypothesis that an increase in floral resources can dilute parasite transmission in the pollinator community. To test this, we analysed the presence of parasites in the pollen of the brood cell provisions of Osmia spp., collected from trap nests placed in apple and sweet cherry orchards. We collected pollen at several time intervals during and after mass bloom, and found that pollen collected during mass bloom had significantly lower parasite prevalence compared with pollen collected after mass bloom. Furthermore, using pollen barcoding data we found that the presence of MFCs in pollen was a good predictor for lower parasite prevalence. Taken together, our results indicate that an increase in flower availability can reduce parasite transmission between bees.     

Early reproductive benefits of mass-flowering crops to the solitary bee Osmia rufa outbalance post-flowering disadvantages

Providing ample nectar and pollen, mass-flowering crops were suggested to counteract ongoing pollinator declines in modern agro-ecosystems. Lately, however, positive effects were shown to be transient and highly trait-specific within the social bumblebees. Contrary to bumblebees, solitary wild bees may benefit more sustainably from mass-flowering crops due to a better seasonal match of the mass provision of resources and their sexual reproduction. We quantified reproductive activity and reproductive output of the polylectic solitary bee Osmia rufa during and after mass-flowering in landscapes with differing amounts of oilseed rape and semi-natural habitats. Across seasons, the number of produced offspring increased with availability of oilseed rape and semi-natural habitats while brood abortion decreased with the former and parasitation with the latter. Season-specific analyses suggest that increased nest-building during mass-flowering of oilseed rape early in the season outweighs negative effects on the number of cells per nest and the percentage of parasitized cells once the mass-flowering has ceased. No effect on number of cells per nest during mass-flowering and exemplary pollen analysis indicate that oilseed rape benefits solitary bees in the form of abundant nectar for foraging flights rather than pollen for brood provisioning. Besides providing permanent forage and nesting sites, semi-natural elements seem to benefit pollinators also by mitigating negative effects of parasitation, potentially via enhanced hyperparasitism. In conclusion, O. rufa clearly benefits from mass-flowering oilseed rape. Yet, the outweighing of the negative post-flowering effects by the early benefits of oilseed rape is tightly linked to the bee's polylecty and early phenology. Thus, it remains to be tested if species unable to utilize oilseed rape due to mismatched oligolecty or later phenology suffer disproportionally from the post-flowering phase of oilseed rape.     

Estimating the population size of specialised solitary bees

Abstract.  1. Reliable methods for quantifying population size are crucial for strategies to conserve endangered wild-bee species. Estimates of population size obtained through survey walks were compared with estimates obtained through mark–recapture studies in 10 populations of the red-listed solitary bee Andrena hattorfiana in southern Sweden.
2. The mean number of bees observed during survey walks was strongly correlated with estimates of population size obtained with mark–recapture. It was found that 5.5–23.4% (mean 13.4%) of the total population was observed during an average survey walk.
3. One component in mark–recapture analysis is the measure of survival of individuals. In the largest bee population, females of A. hattorfiana that emerged in early season were found to forage for pollen on average 18.4 days.
4. The findings suggest that during large-scale surveys, for example re-inventories for red-listed species, the population size of solitary bees can be quantified reliably and effectively by performing survey walks in a two-step process. The first step consists of survey walks to establish the relationship between number of bee observations per survey walk and mark–recapture population size for a small set of populations. In the second, simple observation survey walks can be performed for a large set of populations. In each population of A. hattorfiana , it is recommended that at least six survey walks are performed.     

Comparison of two Mediterranean crop systems: Polycrop favours trap-nesting solitary bees over monocrop

Landscape, in terms of crop diversity, together with spatial heterogeneity, connectivity and the proportion of natural elements all play a key role in the quality of the agricultural matrix. The abundant resources derived from the high productivity associated with cultivated lands within agricultural landscapes – formed by mosaics comprising small elements and systems of low agricultural intensity – may favour the populations and communities of certain insect species.Here, trap-nesting solitary bees have been studied to evaluate the effect of two Mediterranean crop systems: monocrops (vineyard and cereal) and polycrops (mixed vegetable crop) for two levels of farming intensity (high-intensity vs. low-intensity) on brood cells and emergent progeny of the bee population and community species richness.Polycrops proved favourable compared to monocrops, with the former proving particularly favourable for offspring production (brood cells and emergent progeny) of bees belonging to the genus Osmia. Bee populations, especially polylectic species, may benefit from the traits characterizing this polycrop, which provide plentiful and diverse resources both in space and time. Farming intensity, regardless the crop type, is also an important factor affecting bee community structure. Low farming intensity maintains essential semi-natural habitats providing shelter for species-rich communities. Crop richness, together with low farming intensity would provide heterogeneous landscapes with a variety of natural and cultivated resources, benefitting trap-nesting bee populations.     

Phenology of two territorial solitary bees, Anthidium manicatum and A. florentinum (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae)

Five years' data on phenology of an Anthidium manicatum population in southern Germany and comparative observations on A. manicatum and A. florentinum from southern France are analysed. Males and females had the same flight season, adult sex ratio was strongly female biased and males were larger than females in both species. This is the opposite pattern to most other solitary bees, where females generally are larger than males, sex ratio is male-biased, males emerge before females and males disappear long before females. We argue that two features of Anthidium female behaviour, namely prolonged sexual receptivity and use of resources easily defendable by males, explain male adaptations in behaviour, phenology and body size and, hence, population sex ratio.     

Evolution of conflict and cooperation of nematodes associated with solitary and social sweat bees

Parasites and mutualists can wield great influence on the fitness of social organisms, yet the effect that the host’s social structure has on the evolution of parasites, commensals, and mutualists (collectively referred to here as symbionts) is poorly known. Evolutionary theory suggests that host social structure may select for more cooperative symbiont strains in comparison to symbionts of solitary hosts. We compared the productivity of one social and one solitary bee species (Halictus ligatus and Augochlora pura) in the family Halictidae with and without the presence of their nematode symbionts (Acrostichus halicti and Acrostichus puri, respectively). We measured the number of offspring produced, the number of cells provisioned, and nesting activity (for Au. pura) to test the hypothesis that symbionts specific to a social host exhibit greater cooperation than symbionts specific to a solitary host. Infected and uninfected nests of both species did not differ in any fitness estimates indicating that: (1) Acrostichus species are commensals, or at least lack large fitness effects on their hosts, and (2) the transition from association with a solitary host to association with a social host that lives in small colonies does not have detectable effects on the evolution of conflict and cooperation in this system. This is the first comparative study to test the idea that host social structure may influence the evolution of symbionts; future work should compare closely related mutualists and parasites of more advanced eusocial insects to mutualists and parasites of solitary insects.     

Candida riodocensis and Candida cellae, two new yeast species from the Starmerella clade associated with solitary bees in the Atlantic rain forest of Brazil

Two new ascomycetous yeast species belonging to the Starmerella clade were discovered in nests of two solitary bee species in the Atlantic rain forest of Brazil. Candida riodocensis was isolated from pollen-nectar provisions, larvae and fecal pellets of nests of Megachile sp., and Candida cellae was found in pollen-nectar provisions of Centris tarsata. Analysis of the sequences of the D1/D2 large-subunit ribosomal DNA showed that C. riodocensis is phylogenetically related to C. batistae, and the closest relative of C. cellae is C. etchellsii. The type strains are C. riodocensis UFMG-MG02 (=CBS 10087(T) = NRRL Y-27859(T)) and C. cellae UFMG-PC04 (=CBS 10086(T) = NRRL Y-27860(T)).     

The relative importance of solitary bees and syrphid flies as pollinators of two outcrossing plant species in the New Zealand alpine

Pollinators vary in their relative contribution to the conspecific pollen deposited onto receptive stigmas, because of variation in both visitation rate and effectiveness of pollen transfer. Syrphid flies and short‐tongued solitary bees are common flower visitors in alpine New Zealand, yet their relative importance as pollinators is unknown. We measured pollinator performance of the New Zealand alpine endemics Hylaeus matamoko (Hymenoptera: Colletidae) and Allograpta spp. (Diptera: Syrphidae) on two New Zealand alpine herbs, Ourisia glandulosa (Plantaginaceae) and Wahlenbergia albomarginata (Campanulaceae). Ourisia glandulosa received visits by solitary bees and syrphid flies at equal frequencies, whereas W. albomarginata was mostly visited by H. matamoko. Based on single‐visit pollen deposition to virgin stigmas, H. matamoko was a much more effective pollinator than Allograpta spp., delivering 10 times as much pollen per visit to O. glandulosa stigmas and 3 times as much to W. albomarginata stigmas. By multiplying visitation frequency by single‐visit pollen deposition, we estimated that H. matamoko performed 90% and 95% of the pollination of O. glandulosa and W. albomarginata, respectively. Although H. matamoko bees are short‐tongued and small in size, they are critically important to plant reproductive success in the New Zealand alpine. These bees contributed most of the pollination, even to a species that received just as many visits by flies, underscoring the need to consider per‐visit effectiveness as well as visitation rate in assessing the importance of different pollinators.     

Identification of two Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strains with high suppression to the key fruit pathogens of Chinese jujube

Two bacterial strains (ZJ01 and ZJ02) isolated from the phyllosphere of Chinese jujube were tested for antifungal activities and morphological mechanisms against Phoma destructiva, Alternaria alternata and Fusicoccum spp., three key pathogens of jujube fruits. Based on their physiological characteristics and 16S rDNA gene sequences, both strains were identified as Bacillus amyloliquefaciens. The disease incidence of jujube fruits sprayed with the fermentation liquor of ZJ01 and ZJ02 on the puncture wounds before inoculation with the spores of those three key pathogenic fungi was 10% or 66.7%, significantly lower than that of Nutrient Broth medium treatment (100%). These results suggest that strains ZJ01 may be a potential biological control agent for Chinese jujube fruit diseases. The antagonistic bacteria could cause five kinds of hyphal alterations of the causal agents, the maximum number ever observed. Of them, hyphal swelling and excessive branching were the dominant phenomenon, the other three varied with the pathogens. The diverse morphological malformation might be helpful to understand the broad antifungal activity of Bacillus spp..     

Iridoid glycosides from fruits reduce the growth of fungi associated with fruit rot

Aims Ripe, fleshy fruits generally function as rewards to attract mutualistic seed dispersers, but many fruits also contain high concentrations of toxic secondary metabolites. These compounds may serve a variety of adaptive roles in seed dispersal or as a defense against non-dispersing seed predators or pathogens. We tested the effects of iridoid glycosides from fruits of a hybrid bush honeysuckle, Lonicera × bella, on the growth of two pathogenic fungal strains associated with fruit rot, Alternaria tenuissima and Aspergillus tubingensis.Methods Fungi were isolated from field-collected L. × bella fruits and identified using molecular techniques. Their growth rates were assessed in vitro in the presence of varying concentrations of pure loganin, one of the most abundant iridoid glycosides in fruits, as well as fruit extracts containing a mix of at least seven different iridoid glycosides.Important findings Loganin had strong dose-dependent negative effects on the growth of both fungi. Extracts from fruits had no effect on Aspergillus but a strong antifungal effect on Alternaria that increased with fruit ripening. Total iridoid glycoside concentrations in extracts were not good predictors of variation in fungal growth, but several individual compounds had significant negative effects. Although iridoid glycosides have primarily been studied as antiherbivore defenses in leaves, these results indicate that they can also function to reduce the growth of fungi associated with fruit rot.     

两种微生物菌剂对西番莲果渣高温堆肥腐熟进程的影响

研究了在西番莲果渣堆肥体系中加入两种微生物菌剂（福贝和榕风）后的温度、C／N、NH4^＋ -N和NO3^- -N的动态变化及对西番莲果渣堆肥产品品质的影响．结果表明,在西番莲果渣中加入微生物菌剂能增加高温分解持续时间,加快物料C／N降低的速率,促进NH4^＋ -N向NO3^- -N转化,加快西番莲果渣堆肥腐熟化进程．添加福贝和榕风菌剂后,堆肥高温持续时间分别比对照（4d）增加7d和8d;腐熟后堆肥的NO3^- -N浓度分别比对照增加58．0％和64．2％．添加菌种显著增加了西番莲果渣堆肥的N、P、K养分含量,降低了堆肥容重,提高了堆肥总孔隙度和持水孔隙度,改善了堆肥产品的品质．两种菌剂间对西番莲果渣高温腐熟进程的影响没有显著差异,但福贝菌剂更有利于改善堆肥品质．     

Native bees buffer the negative impact of climate warming on honey bee pollination of watermelon crops

If climate change affects pollinator‐dependent crop production, this will have important implications for global food security because insect pollinators contribute to production for 75% of the leading global food crops. We investigate whether climate warming could result in indirect impacts upon crop pollination services via an overlooked mechanism, namely temperature‐induced shifts in the diurnal activity patterns of pollinators. Using a large data set on bee pollination of watermelon crops, we predict how pollination services might change under various climate change scenarios. Our results show that under the most extreme IPCC scenario (A1F1), pollination services by managed honey bees are expected to decline by 14.5%, whereas pollination services provided by most native, wild taxa are predicted to increase, resulting in an estimated aggregate change in pollination services of +4.5% by 2099. We demonstrate the importance of native biodiversity in buffering the impacts of climate change, because crop pollination services would decline more steeply without the native, wild pollinators. More generally, our study provides an important example of how biodiversity can stabilize ecosystem services against environmental change.     

Thermoregulation in four species of tropical solitary bees: the roles of size,sex and altitude

Body temperatures during free flight in the field, warm-up rates during pre-flight warm-up, and temperatures during tethered flight are measured for four tropical solitary bee species at three sites of differing altitude in Papua New Guinea. All four species are capable of endothermic preflight warm-up; three species give slopes of thoracic temperature on ambient temperature of significantly less than 1, indicating regulation of thoracic temperature. In the kleptoparasitic Coelioxys spp. (Megachilidae) and Thyreus quadrimaculatus (Anthophoridae), warm-up rates and thoracic temperatures in flight are low by comparison with the two provisioning species Creightonella frontalis (Megachilidae) and Amegilla sapiens (Anthophoridae). In both C. frontalis and A. sapiens thoracic temperatures correlate positively and significantly with both ambient temperature and body mass. In A. sapiens, body mass increases with altitude; this can be interpreted as a response to lower ambient temperatures at higher altitude, an example of Bergmann's rule. In both A. sapiens and C. frontalis populations at higher altitude have higher thoracic temperatures independent of differences of body mass, suggestive of additional morphological or physiological adaptation to lower ambient temperatures. In A. sapiens there is no qualitative difference in body temperatures between males and females after controlling for body mass, while male C. frontalis have significantly lower thoracic temperatures than females of the species. This difference between A. sapiens and C. frontalis is discussed with reference to variation in mating systems found in the Apoidea.Abbreviations C.R.I. Christensen Research Institute - P.N.G. Papua New Guinea - SFT stable flight temperature - T _a ambient air temperature - T _ab abdominal temperature - T _dif the temperature difference between thorax and abdomen - T _ex thoracic temperature excess - VFT voluntary flight temperature     

On establishing of two weevils (Coleoptera,Curculionidae: Entiminae) damaging fruit and berry crops in Southeastern Kazakhstan

Data on the occurrence of two Eastern European weevils, Urometopus nemorum L. Arn. and Otiorhynchus albidus Stierl., in Southeastern Kazakhstan are reported. Both species are represented in Kazakhstan by parthenogenetic forms and damage cultivated and wild strawberry (Urometopus nemorum) and cherries (Otiorhynchus albidus). The species are apparently recent invaders and appeared in Kazakhstan in the early XXI century.     

Preliminary inventory of parasitoids associated with fruit flies in mangoes,guavas, cashew pepper and wild fruit crops in Benin

Fruit flies are pests of great economic importance due to their quarantine pest status and losses recorded in West Africa. An inventory of parasitoids associated with fruit flies in mangoes, guavas, cashew, pepper and major wild fruit crops was carried out in northern-central Benin in 2005, 2006, and 2008. Tephritid parasitoids reared from field-collected fruits belonged to three families: Braconidae (97.2%), Eulophidae (1.6%) and Pteromalidae (1.2%). Fopius caudatus (Szépligeti) accounted for 73.8% of all the parasitoids and therefore was the most abundant and widely distributed parasitoid. The parasitism rate was 7.7%, with the highest recorded in wild fruit crop habitat. Ceratitis cosyra (Walker) (77%) was the fly host most commonly reared from fruits that produced F. caudatus. The recently introduced pest Bactrocera invadens Drew Tsuruta and White was rarely parasitized and only by Pachycrepoideus vindemmiae (Rondani) (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) at this time. This is the first report of the inventory of one native parasitoid species from B. invadens in Africa, especially in West Africa.     

Exosymbiotic microbes within fermented pollen provisions are as important for the development of solitary bees as the pollen itself

1. Developing bees derive significant benefits from the microbes present within their guts and fermenting pollen provisions. External microbial symbionts (exosymbionts) associated with larval diets may be particularly important for solitary bees that suffer reduced fitness when denied microbe‐colonized pollen.
2. To investigate whether this phenomenon is generalizable across foraging strategy, we examined the effects of exosymbiont presence/absence across two solitary bee species, a pollen specialist and generalist. Larvae from each species were reared on either microbe‐rich natural or microbe‐deficient sterilized pollen provisions allocated by a female forager belonging to their own species (conspecific‐sourced pollen) or that of another species (heterospecific‐sourced pollen). Our results reveal that the presence of pollen‐associated microbes was critical for the survival of both the generalist and specialist larvae, regardless of whether the pollen was sourced from a conspecific or heterospecific forager.
3. Given the positive effects of exosymbiotic microbes for larval fitness, we then examined if the magnitude of this benefit varied based on whether the microbes were provisioned by a conspecific forager (the mother bee) or a heterospecific forager. In this second study, generalist larvae were reared only on microbe‐rich pollen provisions, but importantly, the sources (conspecific versus heterospecific) of the microbes and pollen were experimentally manipulated.
4. Bee fitness metrics indicated that microbial and pollen sourcing both had significant impacts on larval performance, and the effect sizes of each were similar. Moreover, the effects of conspecific‐sourced microbes and conspecific‐sourced pollen were strongly positive, while that of heterospecific‐sourced microbes and heterospecific‐sourced pollen, strongly negative.
5. Our findings imply that not only is the presence of exosymbionts critical for both specialist and generalist solitary bees, but more notably, that the composition of the specific microbial community within larval pollen provisions may be as critical for bee development as the composition of the pollen itself.