Adjustment of fuel loads in stingless bees (Melipona subnitida)

Harano, Ken-ichi; Maia-Silva, Camila; Hrncir, Michael

doi:10.1007/s00359-019-01398-2

Cited by 11 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…During visits, we counted the number of insects on each bait and identified visiting bees to morphospecies and other insects to family or genus level. Visits were separated by a minimum of 1 h, which is longer than the average stingless bee foraging trip for nonfloral resources (Harano et al ., 2020). Thus, it is unlikely that we counted an individual on the same foraging bout during successive visits.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stingless bees (Apidae: Meliponini) seek sodium at carrion baits in Costa Rica

Dorian

Bonoan

2020

Ecological Entomology

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1. Many terrestrial herbivores supplement their diets with minerals. Neotropical stingless bees (Apidae: Meliponini) supplement their floral diets by visiting diverse non-floral resources such as rotting fruit and muddy water. 2. Some stingless bees also visit carrion; however, it is unknown whether bees visit carrion for minerals or for another resource. Here, we investigated the mineral preferences of stingless bees visiting carrion. 3. We deployed raw chicken baits at La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica consisting of six treatments: baits soaked in sodium, calcium, potassium, magnesium, or deionised water, and unsoaked baits. We identified and counted bee and non-bee visitors to baits over three days. 4. We observed five species from three genera of stingless bee on the baits. Sodium baits and unsoaked baits were visited more often than other baits. Our findings demonstrate that stingless bees do forage for minerals on carrion, but that preferences are mineral-specific. 5. In addition, three species packed carrion into their corbiculae. We hypothesise that facultatively necrophagous stingless bees may be using carrion as an alternative source of protein or nest-building materials.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stingless bees (Apidae: Meliponini) seek sodium at carrion baits in Costa Rica

Dorian

Bonoan

2020

Ecological Entomology

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“…While foraging, bees stay several minutes up to hours in the field (He et al 2013;Woodgate et al 2016;Harano et al 2020). On visiting known resource patches, they spend most of this time collecting food.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hence, the activity of pollen and nectar foragers should be affected differently by high air temperatures (Cooper et al 1985;Willmer and Stone 2004). Pollen foragers of M. subnitida leave the nest with honey in their crop, which they spent almost entirely to fuel their flight, to pack pollen loads (Harano et al 2020), and, presumably, for cooling their body. Since they usually do not take up nectar on their foraging trip (Harano et al 2020), cooling may become insufficient at high ambient temperatures.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Pollen foragers of M. subnitida leave the nest with honey in their crop, which they spent almost entirely to fuel their flight, to pack pollen loads (Harano et al 2020), and, presumably, for cooling their body. Since they usually do not take up nectar on their foraging trip (Harano et al 2020), cooling may become insufficient at high ambient temperatures. The consequent elevated heat stress may restrain the activity of pollen foragers, resulting in shorter flights or even the suspension of foraging.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The consequent elevated heat stress may restrain the activity of pollen foragers, resulting in shorter flights or even the suspension of foraging. Nectar foragers of M. subnitida , by contrast, rarely leave the nest with flight fuel (Harano et al 2020). However, since they load liquids on their collection trip, cooling at high air temperatures should be more efficient than that of pollen foragers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Don’t stay out too long! Thermal tolerance of the stingless bees Melipona subnitida decreases with increasing exposure time to elevated temperatures

et al. 2020

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In hot climates, foraging bees risk overheating during food collection. Here, we investigated influence of ambient temperature on the foraging activity in Melipona subnitida , a stingless bee species that naturally occurs in the hottest and driest regions of the Brazilian tropical dry forest. We observed a decrease in round-trip duration of pollen foragers with increasing ambient temperature. Foraging duration of nectar collectors, however, was not affected by the thermal conditions of the environment. When exposed to heat stress in incubators, the upper thermal limits of foragers decreased with increasing exposure time. Moreover, individuals with previous access to liquid food showed higher critical and lethal temperatures than unfed bees. Our study revealed plastic changes in the upper thermal limit of M. subnitida , which help to understand the foraging activity pattern of this stingless bee species.

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Foraging

Grüter

2020

Fascinating Life Sciences

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Adjustment of fuel loads in stingless bees (Melipona subnitida)

Cited by 11 publications

References 30 publications

Stingless bees (Apidae: Meliponini) seek sodium at carrion baits in Costa Rica

Stingless bees (Apidae: Meliponini) seek sodium at carrion baits in Costa Rica

Don’t stay out too long! Thermal tolerance of the stingless bees Melipona subnitida decreases with increasing exposure time to elevated temperatures

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