Solitary behavior in a high-altitude population of the social sweat bee Halictus rubicundus (Hymenoptera: Halictidae)

Eickwort, George C.; Eickwort, Jeffrey; Gordon, Jonathan; Eickwort, M. A.; Wcislo, William T.

doi:10.1007/s002650050236

Cited by 133 publications

(132 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Although our estimate is approximate, it shows that independently nesting females face a substantial risk of brood loss that can be reduced by group living. This risk of solitary nest failure is at the lower end of the range reported in other studies of APR models (Gadagkar 1991;Queller 1994;Eickwort et al 1996;Field et al 1998;Hogendoorn and Zammit 2001).…”

Section: Uncertainties In Measuring Adult Mortalitymentioning

confidence: 65%

“…Thus, only in single-female nests will the death of one adult lead to orphaned brood susceptible to ant predation. Protection against brood orphanage as an advantage of group living has been demonstrated for other species of both eusocial and communal halictids (Eickwort et al 1996;Kukuk et al 1998) and may be a widespread force favoring group living in this family.…”

Section: Survivalmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Offspring may still depend on adult presence for protection, however, even if they do not need to be fed, as is true for mass provisioning species in which adults fully provision each brood cell before laying an egg (Queller 1994;Eickwort et al 1996;Kukuk et al 1998;Forbes et al 2002;Smith et al 2003). Extending AFR models beyond progressive provisioners offers the chance to focus on the role of offspring defense in favoring the evolution of sociality (Lin and Michener 1972).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Extending AFR models beyond progressive provisioners offers the chance to focus on the role of offspring defense in favoring the evolution of sociality (Lin and Michener 1972). In mass provisioning species, adults fully provision each brood cell before laying an egg, but they often remain at and defend their nests (Queller 1994;Eickwort et al 1996;Kukuk et al 1998;Forbes et al 2002;Smith et al 2003). The massprovisioning bee family Halictidae is a key taxon for understanding social evolution.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Survival and productivity benefits to social nesting in the sweat bee Megalopta genalis (Hymenoptera: Halictidae)

Smith

Wcislo

O’Donnell

2007

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Facultatively solitary and eusocial species allow for direct tests of the benefits of group living. We used the facultatively social sweat bee Megalopta genalis to test several benefits of group living. We surveyed natural nests modified for observation in the field weekly for 5 weeks in 2003. First, we demonstrate that social and solitary nesting are alternative behaviors, rather than different points on one developmental trajectory. Next, we show that solitary nests suffered significantly higher rates of nest failure than did social nests. Nest failure apparently resulted from solitary foundress mortality and subsequent brood orphanage. Social nests had significantly higher productivity, measured as new brood cells provisioned during the study, than did solitary nests. After accounting for nest failures, per capita productivity did not change with group size. Our results support key predictions of Assured Fitness Return models, suggesting such indirect fitness benefits favor eusocial nesting in M. genalis. We compared field collections of natural nests to our observation nest data to show that without accounting for nest failures, M. genalis appear to suffer a per capita productivity decrease with increasing group size. Calculating per capita productivity from collected nests without accounting for the differential probabilities of survival across group sizes leads to an overestimate of solitary nest productivity.

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Section: Uncertainties In Measuring Adult Mortalitymentioning

confidence: 65%

Section: Survivalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Survival and productivity benefits to social nesting in the sweat bee Megalopta genalis (Hymenoptera: Halictidae)

Smith

Wcislo

O’Donnell

2007

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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“…Small size dimorphism, the small number of workers and high degree of mating and ovarian development in workers indicates that the level of sociality in H. farinosus is relatively weak compared to that in other social Halictus species (Packer 1992). The nesting biology and behav- (Eickwort et al 1996;Soucy and Danforth 2002;Soro et al 2010). While solitary and social populations of H. rubicundus may form phylogenetically separate lineages (Soucy and Danforth 2002) some halictines exhibit social polymorphism even within the same population (Packer 1990;Richards et al 2003;Hirata and Higashi 2008).…”

Section: Comparisons To Other Halictus Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nesting biology and phenology of a population of Halictus farinosus Smith (Hymenoptera, Halictidae) in northern Utah

Albert¹,

Packer²

2013

JHR

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Nesting biology and phenology in an aggregation of the primitively eusocial ground-nesting bee Halictus farinosus were studied at Green Canyon, Utah from May to August, 2010. Nest architecture was typical of the genus. Nests were small with an average of 3.5 worker and 13.5 reproductive brood per colony. Most workers were mated (77.5%) and had ovarian development (73.4%). The queen-worker size differential was moderate (8.8% for head width and 6.2% for wing length), indicating that sociality in this species is of intermediate strength compared to other social Halictus species. Results from 2010 were compared with those from 1977/1978 and 2002. Varying weather patterns in the years of study led to changes in phenological milestones: in the colder and wetter spring of 2010, nesting behavior was delayed by up to two weeks compared to the other years. While nest productivity was comparable among years, in 2010 the size difference between queens and workers was significantly larger than in 2002, indicating an effect of annual variation in weather conditions on social parameters in this species.

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Major benefits of guarding behavior in subsocial bees: implications for social evolution

Mikát

Černá

Straka

2016

Ecology and Evolution

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Parental care is a behavior that increases the growth and survival of offspring, often at a cost to the parents' own survival and/or future reproduction. In this study, we focused on nest guarding, which is one of the most important types of extended parental care; we studied this behavior in two solitary bee species of the genus Ceratina with social ancestors. We performed the experiment of removing the laying female, who usually guards the nest after completing its provisioning, to test the effects of nest guarding on the offspring survival and nest fate. By dissecting natural nests, we found that Ceratina cucurbitina females always guarded their offspring until the offspring reached adulthood. In addition, the females of this species were able to crawl across the nest partitions and inspect the offspring in the brood cells. In contrast, several Ceratina chalybea females guarded their nests until the offspring reached adulthood, but others closed the nest entrance with a plug and deserted the nest. Nests with a low number of provisioned cells were more likely to be plugged and abandoned than nests with a higher number of cells. The female removal experiment had a significantly negative effect on offspring survival in both species. These nests frequently failed due to the attacks of natural enemies (e.g., ants, chalcidoid wasps, and other competing Ceratina bees). Increased offspring survival is the most important benefit of the guarding strategy. The abandonment of a potentially unsuccessful brood might constitute a benefit of the nest plugging behavior. The facultative nest desertion strategy is a derived behavior in the studied bees and constitutes an example of an evolutionary reduction in the extent of parental care.

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Solitary behavior in a high-altitude population of the social sweat bee Halictus rubicundus (Hymenoptera: Halictidae)

Cited by 133 publications

References 18 publications

Survival and productivity benefits to social nesting in the sweat bee Megalopta genalis (Hymenoptera: Halictidae)

Survival and productivity benefits to social nesting in the sweat bee Megalopta genalis (Hymenoptera: Halictidae)

Nesting biology and phenology of a population of Halictus farinosus Smith (Hymenoptera, Halictidae) in northern Utah

Major benefits of guarding behavior in subsocial bees: implications for social evolution

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