Nesting biology and social organisation of the allodapine bee Exoneura angophorae (Hymenoptera: Apidae): montane environmental constraints yield biased sex allocation yet phenology is unhindered

Bernauer, Olivia M.; Cook, James M.; Tierney, Simon M.

doi:10.1007/s00040-021-00832-6

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Whereas, a range of stem-nesting bees ( Heriades , Hoplitis , Hylaeus , Megachile , Osmia , Anthophora , Ceratina ) associated with apple cultivation were less common in areas of intensive agricultural land use in Nova Scotia [86]. Allodapines are common visitors of apple and blackberry crops in south eastern Australia [11,12,68,89,90]. Because this tribe of facultatively social bees progressively provisions feeding-stage larvae in an unpartitioned nest tunnel they are not ‘solitary’ bees [88,91,92].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Because this tribe of facultatively social bees progressively provisions feeding-stage larvae in an unpartitioned nest tunnel they are not ‘solitary’ bees [88,91,92]. The absence of brood cells means that adults are constantly interacting with immature brood, hence even solitarily founded colonies are subsocial by definition [93] and taxa that visit apple flowers predominantly exhibit modal colony sizes of at least 2 females per nest [89,94–99].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…R. Soc. B 290: 20230747 founded colonies are subsocial by definition [93] and taxa that visit apple flowers predominantly exhibit modal colony sizes of at least 2 females per nest [89,[94][95][96][97][98][99].…”

Section: (B) Nesting Biologymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Bee pollination services and the burden of biogeography

et al. 2023

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Native bees augment pollination services in the Northern Hemisphere, especially cultivated apple crops, yet Southern Hemisphere contexts are poorly known. We observed the foraging behaviour of 69 354 invertebrate flower visitors in Australian orchards (two regions, 3 years) to assess the efficacy of pollination service ( P eff ). Native stingless bees and introduced honey bees were the most abundant visitors and most efficacious pollinators ( Tetragonula P eff = 6.16; Apis P eff = 13.02), with Tetragonula becoming important service providers above 22°C. However, visits by tree-nesting stingless bees decreased with distance from native forest (less than 200 m) and their tropical/subtropical distribution precludes pollination service in other major Australian apple-producing regions. More broadly distributed native allodapine and halictine bees transferred the most pollen per-visit, but their low abundances reduce efficacies ( Exoneura P eff = 0.03; Lasioglossum P eff = 0.06), resulting in a general dependence on honey bees. This reliance is a burden of biogeography, since key Northern Hemisphere pollinators of apple ( Andrena, Apis , Bombus , Osmia ) do not naturally occur in Australasia—where there is only 15% generic overlap with Central Asian bees sympatric with wild apple distributions (cf. Palaearctic 66% and Nearctic 46% generic overlaps). The historical biogeography of bees therefore drives an extreme dependence on one introduced species for apple pollination in Australia.

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