The effect of overwintering temperature on the body energy reserves and phenoloxidase activity of bumblebee Bombus lucorum queens

Vesterlund, Salla-Riikka; Lilley, Thomas M.; Ooik, Tapio van; Sorvari, Jouni

doi:10.1007/s00040-014-0351-9

Cited by 41 publications

(32 citation statements)

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“…Significant differences were also observed between control individuals cultured in summer conditions and the OCT individuals. Similar results were observed in the bumblebee Bombus lucorum , in which queens overwintering in soil had higher levels of PO activity in colder areas (Vesterlund et al ., ). These authors suggested that a higher level of PO activity was the result of higher protein concentrations in the haemolymph of queens overwintering in colder areas.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…However, interactions between low temperatures and an immune response may not necessarily be interpreted as negative (Sinclair et al, 2013). The lower temperature of an insect's body is associated with lower respiration and reduced resource consumption (Thompson & Davis, 1981;Irwin & Lee, 2003;Williams et al, 2012;Vesterlund et al, 2014). This could lead to better allocation of resources when this is necessary for proper immune system functioning (Vesterlund et al, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the results obtained in previous research are equivocal, because low temperature does not always lead to a reduction in immune system activity. For example, research conducted by Vesterlund et al, (2014) showed that the humoral response could be higher in individuals living in colder localizations in the natural environment. Moreover, flies Drosophila melanogaster survive longer after bacterial infection in lower temperatures (Wojda & Jakubowicz, 2007;Linder et al, 2008;Wojda et al, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Impact of cold on the immune system of burying beetle, Nicrophorus vespilloides (Coleoptera: Silphidae)

et al. 2016

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Insect overwintering is one of the most astonishing phases of the insect life cycle. Despite vast amounts of knowledge available about the physiological mechanisms of this phenomenon, the impact of stress factors on insect immune system functioning during the winter is still unknown. The aim of this study is to analyze how low temperatures influence the immune system of the beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides. The results show that the beetle's immune system is differently modulated by cold induced in laboratory settings than that which occurs in natural conditions. Among beetles cultured in conditions similar to summer, low temperatures, did not influence the number of circulating haemocytes, phenoloxidase activity, haemocytes morphology, and percentage ratio of haemocyte types. In these beetles, differences were noted only in the ability of haemocytes to perform phagocytosis. Individuals acclimated in natural conditions in autumn had a higher level of humoral response and a different percentage ratio of haemocyte types. During the winter period, the number of haemocytes in the beetles decreased, but the percentage ratio of phagocytic haemocytes increased. Furthermore, we noted an increase of phenoloxidase activity. Our study also showed mitotic divisions of haemocytes in haemolymph collected from burying beetles after cold exposure and from burying beetles collected from natural conditions during autumn and winter. Differences in response to low temperatures in laboratory conditions and the natural environment suggest that the simultaneous presence of other stress factors during winter such as desiccation and starvation have a significant influence on the activity of burying beetle's immune system.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Impact of cold on the immune system of burying beetle, Nicrophorus vespilloides (Coleoptera: Silphidae)

et al. 2016

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“…These traits are obviously positively correlated with colony fitness as: (i) higher performance means that workers need to collect less resources (i.e. spend less energy in foraging) to produce an equivalent mass of offspring; (ii) larger workers can collect more pollen and nectar resources than smaller ones [50]; and (iii) well-developed fat body helps to better resist parasites and diseases [51, 52]. Actually, its foraging behavior (i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Pollen nutritional quality varies widely among plant species both quantitatively (i.e., ranging from 2–60% protein and 1–20% lipids by weight) [55, 56] and qualitatively (i.e. difference in sterol and amino acid profiles) [23, 52]. In this way, Cistus pollen has been described with a higher relative concentration of 24-methylenecholesterol than that of Salix [35], which could account for the higher performance of B .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interspecific Variation in Bumblebee Performance on Pollen Diet: New Insights for Mitigation Strategies

et al. 2016

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Bumblebees (i.e. Bombus genus) are major pollinators of flowering wild plants and crops. Although many species are currently in decline, a number of them remain stable or are even expanding. One factor potentially driving changes in bumblebee distribution is the suitability of plant communities. Actually, bees probably have specific nutritional requirements that could shape their floral choices and constraint them in the current context of global change. However, most studies primarily focus on one bumblebee species at a time, making comparative studies scarce. Herein we performed comparative bioassays on three bumblebee species (i.e. Bombus hypnorum, B. pratorum and B. terrestris) fed on three different pollen diets with distinct nutritive content (Cistus, Erica and Salix pollen diets). Micro-colony performance was compared through different developmental and resource collection parameters for understanding the impact of change in pollen diet on different bumblebee species. The evidence suggests that B. terrestris is by far the most competitive species because of its performance compared to the other species, regardless of pollen diet. Our results also highlight a Bombus species effect as pollen diet impacts the micro-colonies in different ways according to the actual bumblebee species. Such interspecific variation in Bombus performance in response to a dietetic change underlines the importance of considering different bumblebee species in mitigation strategies. Such comparative studies are good advice for developing appropriate suites of plant species that can benefit threatened species while supporting stable or expanding ones.

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Strong reduction in diapause survival under warm and humid overwintering conditions in a temperate‐zone butterfly

Klockmann

Fischer

2019

Population Ecology

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Anthropogenic climate change poses substantial challenges to biodiversity conservation. Effects of climate change on summer conditions and associated heat and desiccation stress have attracted much research interest, while the implications of changing winter conditions on hibernation have hitherto received fairly little attention. This is surprising as the latter may also strongly affect biodiversity. By investigating the effects of overwintering conditions on diapause and postdiapause survival in a temperate‐zone butterfly, we found that warmer and moister winter conditions substantially decreased survival rates. However, detrimental effects were restricted to survival during diapause and subsequent development and had no clear effects on butterfly performance. We suggest that overwintering survival is an important driver of vulnerability to climate change. Our study stresses the importance of collating more data on overwintering survival in species with different hibernation strategies to predict the impact of ongoing climate change on biodiversity.

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The effect of overwintering temperature on the body energy reserves and phenoloxidase activity of bumblebee Bombus lucorum queens

Cited by 41 publications

References 40 publications

Impact of cold on the immune system of burying beetle, Nicrophorus vespilloides (Coleoptera: Silphidae)

Impact of cold on the immune system of burying beetle, Nicrophorus vespilloides (Coleoptera: Silphidae)

Interspecific Variation in Bumblebee Performance on Pollen Diet: New Insights for Mitigation Strategies

Strong reduction in diapause survival under warm and humid overwintering conditions in a temperate‐zone butterfly

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