The influence of soil temperature on the nesting cycle of the halictid bee Lasioglossum malachurum

Weissel, N.; Mitesser, Oliver; Liebig, Jürgen; Poethke, Hans Joachim; Strohm, Erhard

doi:10.1007/s00040-007-0917-x

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Further information on the nesting biology of the L. malachurum population at Wuerzburg can be found in Strohm and Bordon-Hauser (2003) and Weissel et al (2007).…”

Section: Study Species and Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The distance between these two aggregations was about 800 m. Male and female sexuals of the second and third broods (hence brood 2 and brood 3) of 2003 were caught directly after emergence from their colonies by placing transparent polystyrene vials over the nest entrance (number of nests: 33 in brood 2, collected 22 June to 10 July; 29 in brood 3, collected 18 July 18 to 7 August; there is no overlap in the emergence periods of broods 2 and 3, Weissel et al, 2007). Since the second brood comprises queens as well as workers, the two groups have to be distinguished.…”

Section: Study Species and Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the population at Wuerzburg, colonies vary with respect to the number of worker broods (one or two) and the timing of sexual production (in the second brood, in the third brood, or in both, Strohm and Bordon-Hauser, 2003;Weissel et al, 2007). This variation could be a result of differences among gynes in the amount of fat reserves remaining at the end of the founding phase.…”

Section: Depletion Of Fat Reservesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Availability and depletion of fat reserves in halictid foundress queens with a focus on solitary nest founding

et al. 2011

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Foundress queens of social Hymenoptera require considerable amounts of energy for survival, solitary nest founding, provisioning of the first brood, and egg production. Energy reserves in insects mostly consist of fat. We investigated how hibernation and the subsequent flight season, especially the solitary nest founding phase, influenced the abdominal fat content of gynes in the primitively eusocial sweat bee, Lasioglossum malachurum (Hymenoptera, Halictidae). In our study population, sexuals are produced in both the second and the third broods. Emerging gynes of the third brood had significantly more fat than those of the second brood, whereas there was no such difference in males. As expected, fat reserves in samples of female sexuals caught at emergence, after hibernation, during solitary nest founding, and at the end of the social phase of the nest cycle indicate a severe decrease of reserves that was highest during the 7 weeks of the solitary founding phase. Thus, the amount of fat reserves of foundress queens seems to be crucial, particularly for nest founding. However, investment of energy reserves in the solitary nest founding phase has probably to be balanced with the subsequent social phase in a way that maximizes the queen's fitness. Possible consequences for the complexity and progress of the nest cycle are discussed.

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“…Further information on the nesting biology of the L. malachurum population at Wuerzburg can be found in Strohm and Bordon-Hauser (2003) and Weissel et al (2007).…”

Section: Study Species and Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study Species and Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Depletion Of Fat Reservesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Availability and depletion of fat reserves in halictid foundress queens with a focus on solitary nest founding

et al. 2011

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“…As in other ectotherms, adult activity and offspring development are strongly influenced by temperature in bees (Kamm 1974;Heinrich 1979;Willmer 1985;Weissel et al 2006;Hirata and Higashi 2008). This consideration alone leads to the expectation that, at higher latitudes, reproduction will be initiated later in spring, foundress foraging rates will be reduced, larval development will be slower and there should be a shorter growing season for larval development, perhaps resulting in smaller offspring.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Body size, demography and foraging in a socially plastic sweat bee: a common garden experiment

Field

Paxton

Soro

et al. 2012

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Phenotypic plasticity may evolve when conditions vary temporally or spatially on a small enough scale. Plasticity is thought to play a central role in the early stages of evolutionary transitions, including major transitions such as those between non-sociality and sociality. The sweat bee Halictus rubicundus is of special interest in this respect, because it is socially plastic in the British Isles: Nests are social or non-social depending on the environment. However, sociality comprises a complex suite of interrelated traits. To further investigate social plasticity in H. rubicundus, we measured traits that are potentially integral to social phenotype at a northern site, where nests are nonsocial, and a southern site where nests can be social. We found that foundresses at non-social sites were smaller, produced offspring of a size more similar to themselves, initiated nesting later, and took longer to produce their first female offspring. They began provisioning earlier in the day, finished earlier, and collected more pollen loads. Common garden experiments suggested that these differences represent mainly plasticity, as expected for traits involved in the overall plastic social phenotype, with only limited evidence for fixed genetic differences in foraging. Conditions during overwintering did not have major effects on a foundress' subsequent behaviour.

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“…Both effects a) and b) are likely to occur at the end of the season. As halictid reproduction is organized in discrete broods of fixed length Weissel et al 2006) and the development time of the brood (not considered by Macevicz and Oster, 1976) determines a very stable temporal sequence of active and inactive periods, early termination of reproduction can only be achieved by skipping a complete brood when worker productivity falls below the critical value.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimal investment allocation in primitively eusocial bees: a balance model based on resource limitation of the queen

et al. 2007

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The classical model of colony dynamics developed by Macevicz and Oster predicts that optimal colony fitness in annual eusocial insects is achieved by a bangbang strategy of reproduction: exclusive production of workers (ergonomic phase) followed by exclusive production of sexuals (reproductive phase). We propose an alternative model that assumes colony development in discrete broods and a limited overall investment potential of the queen. Based on the costs for producing eggs, workers, and sexuals and efficiency of individuals we predict the optimal number of workers and sexuals in the colony for each brood of the colony cycle that maximizes overall colony fitness. To link our model assumptions to the real world we chose model parameters according to field data of the halictid bee Lasioglossum malachurum. However, our model is representative of a large number of species with an annual life cycle and with discrete broods. Our model shows that the optimal partitioning of resources, i.e. the optimal workers/sexuals ratio depends on rearing cost for sexuals as well as productivity of workers but not on the queens total investment, egg cost, or rearing cost for workers. In complete accordance to Macevicz and Oster we predict a bang-bang reproduction strategy despite the differences in the basic assumptions. Potential deviations from this strategy and transitions from social to solitary breeding are discussed in the framework of our model.

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The influence of soil temperature on the nesting cycle of the halictid bee Lasioglossum malachurum

Cited by 7 publications

References 23 publications

Availability and depletion of fat reserves in halictid foundress queens with a focus on solitary nest founding

Availability and depletion of fat reserves in halictid foundress queens with a focus on solitary nest founding

Body size, demography and foraging in a socially plastic sweat bee: a common garden experiment

Optimal investment allocation in primitively eusocial bees: a balance model based on resource limitation of the queen

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