Big bees spread disease: body size mediates transmission of a bumble bee pathogen

Ecology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer I. Van Wyk ◽  
Eugene R. Amponsah ◽  
Wee Hao Ng ◽  
Lynn S. Adler
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Bumble Bee

scholarly journals Percent lipid is associated with body size but not task in the bumble bee Bombus impatiens

2011 ◽  
Vol 197 (11) ◽  
pp. 1097-1104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret J. Couvillon ◽  
Jennifer M. Jandt ◽  
Jennifer Bonds ◽  
Bryan R. Helm ◽  
Anna Dornhaus
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Bombus Impatiens ◽  
Bumble Bee

The effects of pollen availability on development time in the bumble bee Bombus terricola K. (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

1990 ◽  
Vol 68 (6) ◽  
pp. 1120-1123 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. H. Sutcliffe ◽  
R. C. Plowright
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Larval Stage ◽  
Treatment Duration ◽  
Development Time ◽  
Bumble Bee ◽  
Larval Nutrition ◽  
Adult Body Size ◽  
Adult Body

Captive colonies of Bombus terricola Kirby received pollen for 8, 14, or 24 h/day. The effects of the treatment demonstrated experimentally the influence of larval nutrition on development time. The duration of the cocoon stage was positively related to both adult body size and pollen availability. The duration of the larval stage varied in a more complex way: within each treatment, duration of the larval stage was positively related to adult body size, but between the treatments, and for each of the three castes, pollen deprivation tended to lengthen the larval stage. These results reconcile divergent findings in the literature.

scholarly journals Is diversity in worker body size important for the performance of bumble bee colonies?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob G. Holland ◽  
Shinnosuke Nakayama ◽  
Maurizio Porfiri ◽  
Oded Nov ◽  
Guy Bloch
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Bombus Terrestris ◽  
Bumble Bee ◽  
Insect Societies ◽  
Physiological Adaptations ◽  
Comparable Performance ◽  
Colony Performance ◽  
Size Diversity ◽  
Individual Effort ◽  
Bee Colonies

ABSTRACTSpecialization and plasticity are important for many forms of collective behavior, but the interplay between these factors is little understood. In insect societies, workers are often predisposed to specialize in different tasks, sometimes with morphological or physiological adaptations, facilitating a division of labor. Workers may also plastically switch between tasks or vary their effort. The degree to which predisposed specialization limits plasticity is not clear and has not been systematically tested in ecologically relevant contexts. We addressed this question in 20 freely-foraging bumble bee (Bombus terrestris) colonies by continually manipulating colonies to contain either a typically diverse or reduced (“homogeneous”) worker body size distribution, over two trials. Pooling both trials, diverse colonies did better in several indices of colony performance. The importance of body size was further demonstrated by the finding that foragers were larger than nurses even in homogeneous colonies with a very narrow body size range. However, the overall effect of size diversity stemmed mostly from one trial. In the other trial, homogeneous and diverse colonies showed comparable performance. By comparing behavioral profiles based on several thousand observations, we found evidence that workers in homogeneous colonies in this trial rescued colony performance by plastically increasing behavioral specialization and/or individual effort, compared to same-sized individuals in diverse colonies. Our results are consistent with a benefit to colonies of predisposed (size-diverse) specialists under certain conditions, but also suggest that plasticity or effort, can compensate for reduced (size-related) specialization. Thus, we suggest that an intricate interplay between specialization and plasticity is functionally adaptive in bumble bee colonies.

scholarly journals Divergence in Body Mass, Wing Loading, and Population Structure Reveals Species-Specific and Potentially Adaptive Trait Variation Across Elevations in Montane Bumble Bees

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey D Lozier ◽  
Zachary M Parsons ◽  
Lois Rachoki ◽  
Jason M Jackson ◽  
Meaghan L Pimsler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Population Structure ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Body Mass ◽  
Bumble Bee ◽  
Flight Performance ◽  
Wing Loading ◽  
Trait Variation ◽  
Environmental Pressures ◽  
Environmental Correlations ◽  
High Elevations

Abstract Biogeographic clines in morphology along environmental gradients can illuminate forces influencing trait evolution within and between species. Latitude has long been studied as a driver of morphological clines, with a focus on body size and temperature. However, counteracting environmental pressures may impose constraints on body size. In montane landscapes, declines in air density with elevation can negatively impact flight performance in volant species, which may contribute to selection for reduced body mass despite declining temperatures. We examine morphology in two bumble bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Bombus Latreille) species, Bombus vancouverensis Cresson and Bombus vosnesenskii Radoszkowski, across mountainous regions of California, Oregon, and Washington, United States. We incorporate population genomic data to investigate the relationship between genomic ancestry and morphological divergence. We find that B. vancouverensis, which tends to be more specialized for high elevations, exhibits stronger spatial-environmental variation, being smaller in the southern and higher elevation parts of its range and having reduced wing loading (mass relative to wing area) at high elevations. Bombus vosnesenskii, which is more of an elevational generalist, has substantial trait variation, but spatial-environmental correlations are weak. Population structure is stronger in the smaller B. vancouverensis, and we find a significant association between elevation and wing loading after accounting for genetic structure, suggesting the possibility of local adaptation for this flight performance trait. Our findings suggest that some conflicting results for body size trends may stem from distinct environmental pressures that impact different aspects of bumble bee ecology, and that different species show different morphological clines in the same region.

THE EFFECTS OF FOOD SUPPLY ON ADULT SIZE IN THE BUMBLE BEE BOMBUS TERRICOLA KIRBY (HYMENOPTERA: APIDAE)

1988 ◽  
Vol 120 (12) ◽  
pp. 1051-1058 ◽  
Author(s):  
G.H. Sutcliffe ◽  
R.C. Plowright
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Food Supply ◽  
Colony Development ◽  
Bumble Bee ◽  
Adult Size ◽  
Food Regimes ◽  
Worker Size ◽  
Over Time

AbstractCaptive colonies of Bombus terricola Kirby received pollen for 8, 14, or 24 h per day from the time of onset of second brood oviposition until colony decline. The pattern of change of worker body size over time, especially between the first and second broods, varied according to these experimental food regimes. The results indicate that conflicting results reported in the literature, with respect to changes in worker size over the course of colony development, probably can be regarded, at least in part, as the outcome of differences in food supply.

scholarly journals Mean body size predicts colony performance in the common eastern bumble bee (Bombus impatiens )

2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 458-462 ◽  
Author(s):  
John D. Herrmann ◽  
Nick M. Haddad ◽  
Douglas J. Levey
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Bombus Impatiens ◽  
Bumble Bee ◽  
Colony Performance ◽  
The Common

scholarly journals Body Size and Behavioural Plasticity Interact to Influence the Performance of Free-Foraging Bumble Bee Colonies

Insects ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 236
Author(s):  
Jacob Holland ◽  
Shinnosuke Nakayama ◽  
Maurizio Porfiri ◽  
Oded Nov ◽  
Guy Bloch
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Bombus Terrestris ◽  
Division Of Labour ◽  
Bumble Bee ◽  
Behavioural Plasticity ◽  
Insect Societies ◽  
Comparable Performance ◽  
Colony Performance ◽  
Size Diversity ◽  
Bee Colonies

Specialisation and plasticity are important for many forms of collective behaviour, but the interplay between these factors is little understood. In insect societies, workers are often developmentally primed to specialise in different tasks, sometimes with morphological or physiological adaptations, facilitating a division of labour. Workers may also plastically switch between tasks or vary their effort. The degree to which developmentally primed specialisation limits plasticity is not clear and has not been systematically tested in ecologically relevant contexts. We addressed this question in 20 free-foraging bumble bee (Bombus terrestris) colonies by continually manipulating colonies to contain either a typically diverse, or a reduced (“homogeneous”), worker body size distribution while keeping the same mean body size, over two trials. Pooling both trials, diverse colonies produced a larger comb mass, an index of colony performance. The link between body size and task was further corroborated by the finding that foragers were larger than nurses even in homogeneous colonies with a very narrow body size range. However, the overall effect of size diversity stemmed mostly from one trial. In the other trial, homogeneous and diverse colonies showed comparable performance. By comparing behavioural profiles based on several thousand observations of individuals, we found evidence that workers in homogeneous colonies in this trial rescued colony performance by plastically increasing behavioural specialisation and/or individual effort, compared to same-sized individuals in diverse colonies. Our results are consistent with a benefit to colonies of large and small specialists under certain conditions, but also suggest that plasticity or effort can compensate for reduced (size-related) specialisation. Thus, we suggest that an intricate interplay between specialisation and plasticity is functionally adaptive in bumble bee colonies.

BODY SIZE VARIATION AND OPTIMAL BODY SIZE OF BUMBLE BEE QUEENS (HYMENOPTERA: APIDAE)

1988 ◽  
Vol 120 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin E. Owen
Keyword(s):  
Weight Loss ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Bumble Bees ◽  
Foraging Efficiency ◽  
Bumble Bee ◽  
Mass Variation ◽  
Fixed Amount ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Radial Cell

AbstractBody size and mass variation of queen bumble bees (Bombus Latr. spp.) were analyzed in relationship to hibernation survival and optimal body size. Body mass and size (measured by radial cell length) were significantly correlated in six of eight species. Also, spring queens of B. occidentalis Greene were, on average, significantly larger yet lighter than young fall queens. These observations were consistent with weight loss known to occur during hibernation coupled with greater mortality of small queens over the winter. Thus large queens may be at an advantage for this and other reasons (e.g. foraging efficiency, usurpation). However, an optimality model showed that an intermediate body size was optimal if the reproductive success of a colony (foundress queen and workers) was considered. The assumptions were that fitness did not increase linearly with body size but was a convex function, and that colonies only had a fixed amount of energy to invest in reproductive offspring leading to a trade-off between size and number.

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