The Accompanying Fauna of Solitary Bee Osmia Bicornis (L.) Syn. Osmia Rufa (L.) Nests Settled in Different Biotopes

Abstract

Red mason bee Osmia bicornis (L.) is a solitary bee which has been shown to be a successful pollinator of many field crops and greenhouse crops. In favorable environmental conditions, this solitary bee can significantly raise the efficiency of crops. Controlled honeybee farms are invaded by various accompanying fauna. The aim of the study was to find out if the biotope may increase or limit the presence of foreign fauna in the nests of the solitary bee O. bicornis (L.). Four different biotopes were selected: a traditional orchard, the dendrological park of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Kórnik, a mixed forest, and a haymeadow, where artificial aggregations of O. bicornis (L.) were made, with 300 specimens in each. They were given artificial nests of common reed. The nests were then analysed after the end of the brooding period. The number of brood chambers built by females was determined. The number of chambers where the forms of development stopped at the egg or larva stage, the number of parasite-invaded chambers, and the systematic membership of the encountered foreign fauna, was also determined. The analysis of variance and Duncan's test with the significance level of α=0.05 proved that the biotope influenced the development of the O. bicornis (L.) population. The females in the forest biotope built the most brood chambers in each tube on average, and the result was significantly different from the other biotopes. The largest number of larvae died in the nests which had been placed in the dendrological park, and that value was also statistically different from the others. The highest parasite invasion was noted in the nests situated in the forest.

Reproduction of the red mason solitary bee Osmia rufa (syn. Osmia bicornis) (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) in various habitats

“…We did not identify the pollen in breeding chambers however, these plants were very common within the flight range of female bees, which is 500 to 600 m (Raw, 1972;Gathmann & Tscharntke, 2002). The analysis of nests in this habitat revealed that a high percentage of the larvae were dead or parasitized (Fliszkiewicz et al, 2012).…”

Red mason bee (Osmia bicornis) thermal preferences for nest sites and their effects on offspring survival

“…This makes red mason bees good candidates for model species, e.g. in studies of pesticide toxicity, the effect of environmental pollution, ecological stoichiometry, or interspecific interactions (Fliszkiewicz et al 2012a;Szentgyörgyi et al 2017;Kierat et al 2018;Sgolastra et al 2019;Filipiak 2019;Eeraerts et al 2020). Females fly throughout the spring until early summer.…”

Plant secretions prevent wasp parasitism in nests of wool-carder bees, with implications for the diversification of nesting materials in Megachilidae

“…Chalcidoid wasps, including Melittobia spp., are known to locate their hosts by means of olfactory cues, emanating either from larvae, cocoons, larval provisions, or larval feces (Vet and Dicke, 1992;Silva-Torres et al, 2005;Cusumano et al, 2010;Filella et al, 2011), and a change in the respective odor may plausibly change host recognition. Pelargonium extrafloral trichome secretions contain anacardic acid derivatives as their main constituents (Gerhold et al, 1984), but also a range volatiles, especially sesquiterpenes (Eltz, pers. obs.).…”

“…and leaf-cutter bees (Megachile spp.) (Rank and Goerzen, 1981;Krunic et al, 2005;Fliszkiewicz et al, 2012). A. manicatum has not been recorded as a host in the literature available to us (its nests are rarely found), but it is likely to be parasitized when accessible.…”