WORKER-MALE CONFLICT AND INBREEDING IN BUMBLE BEES (HYMENOPTERA: APIDAE)

1979 ◽  
Vol 111 (3) ◽  
pp. 289-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.C. Plowright ◽  
M.J. Pallett
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Colony Growth ◽  
Bumble Bees ◽  
Colony Development ◽  
Bumble Bee ◽  
Diploid Males ◽  
Early Phases

AbstractWorker-male conflict in different bumble bee species is strongly associated with tendency, toward inbreeding. It is hypothesized that the major cost imposed by inbreeding arises from the production of diploid males in place of workers, during the early phases of colony development. The consequent dilution of the labour force slows down colony growth and leads to ultimate reduction in reproductive success. An experiment to test this hypothesis is described, using consanguineously mated queens of B. atratus Fkln. Colonies yielding a 1:1 mixture of males and workers grew significantly more slowly than normal all-worker producing colonies, providing support for the hypothesis.

scholarly journals Pollen Diet Composition Impacts Early Nesting Success in Queen Bumble Bees Bombus impatiens Cresson(Hymenoptera: Apidae)

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 711-717 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristal M Watrous ◽  
Michelle A Duennes ◽  
S Hollis Woodard
Keyword(s):  
Larval Growth ◽  
Nesting Success ◽  
Bumble Bees ◽  
Bombus Impatiens ◽  
Flowering Plant ◽  
Colony Development ◽  
Bumble Bee ◽  
Brood Production ◽  
Colony Cycle ◽  
Floral Resource

Abstract Bumble bees are generalist pollinators that typically collect floral rewards from a wide array of flowering plant species. Among the greatest threats to wild bumble bee populations worldwide, many of which are declining, is a loss of floral resource abundance and diversity in the landscapes they inhabit. We examined how composition of pollen diet impacts early nesting success in laboratory-reared queens of the bumble bee Bombus impatiens. Specifically, we provided queens and their young nests with one of three pollen diets, each of which was dominated by a single pollen type, and explored how this diet treatment influenced the length of time until queens initiated nests, total counts of brood in the nest at the end of the experiment (8 wk later), and the size and weight of adult offspring produced. We found that the amount of later-stage brood (pupae and/or adults) produced by recently-initiated nests was strongly impacted by pollen diet. For example, on average 66% fewer later-stage brood were found in nests provided with the Cistus pollen Linnaeus (Cistaceae), relative to the predominantly Asteraceae pollen. This finding suggests that particular pollen diet compositions may delay larval growth, which delays colony development and may ultimately be detrimental for young nests. This study sheds light on how one of the leading stressors for bumble bees (nutritional stress) may negatively impact populations through its influence on brood production during the nest-founding stage of the colony cycle.

scholarly journals Optimizing Laboratory Rearing of a Key Pollinator, Bombus impatiens

Insects ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 673
Author(s):  
Erin Treanore ◽  
Katherine Barie ◽  
Nathan Derstine ◽  
Kaitlin Gadebusch ◽  
Margarita Orlova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Cues ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Bumble Bees ◽  
Bumble Bee ◽  
Laboratory Rearing ◽  
Research Fields ◽  
The Social ◽  
Solitary Phase ◽  
Early Phases ◽  
Effect Of Age

Bumble bees are key pollinators for wild and managed plants and serve as a model system in various research fields, largely due to their commercial availability. Despite their extensive use, laboratory rearing of bumble bees is often challenging, particularly during the solitary phase queens undergo before founding a colony. Using a literature survey, we demonstrate that most studies rely on commercially available species that are provided during the colony’s social phase, limiting study on early phases of the life cycle and the ability to control for colony age and relatedness. Laboratory rearing is challenging since the queen solitary phase is less understood compared to the social phase. To overcome this barrier, we examined several aspects related to the queen solitary phase: the effect of age on likelihood of mating, how the timing of CO2 narcosis post-mating (a technique to bypass diapause) affects egg-laying, and whether different social cues affect the success of colony initiation. Our data show an optimum age for mating in both sexuals and decreased egg-laying latency in the presence of workers and pupae. The timing of CO2 narcosis did not significantly affect egg laying in queens. These findings can be incorporated to improve bumble bee rearing for research purposes.

scholarly journals Landscape Enhancements in Apple Orchards: Higher Bumble Bee Queen Species Richness, but No Effect on Apple Quality

Insects ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 421
Author(s):  
Amélie Gervais ◽  
Marc Bélisle ◽  
Marc J. Mazerolle ◽  
Valérie Fournier
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Bumble Bees ◽  
Bumble Bee ◽  
Pesticide Use ◽  
Apple Orchards ◽  
Seed Number ◽  
Apple Production ◽  
Apple Quality ◽  
Effective Pollinators ◽  
Quality Weight

Bumble bees are among the most effective pollinators in orchards during the blooming period, yet they are often threatened by the high levels of pesticide use in apple production. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of landscape enhancements (e.g., hedgerows, flower strips) on bumble bee queens in apple orchards. Bumble bee queens from 12 orchards in southern Québec (Canada) were marked, released, and recaptured in the springs and falls of 2017 to 2019. Half of the 12 orchards had landscape enhancements. Apples were harvested in 2018 and 2019 to compare their quality (weight, diameter, sugar level, and seed number) in sites with and without landscape enhancements. Species richness, as well as the occurrence of three species out of eight, was higher in orchards with landscape enhancements than in orchards without such structures. The occurrence of Bombus ternarius was lower in orchards with high levels of pesticide use. Apples had fewer seeds when collected in orchards with landscape enhancements and were heavier in orchards that used more pesticides. Our work provides additional evidence that landscape enhancements improve bumble bee presence in apple orchards and should therefore be considered as a means to enhance pollination within farms.

scholarly journals Olfactory coding in the antennal lobe of the bumble bee Bombus terrestris

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcel Mertes ◽  
Julie Carcaud ◽  
Jean-Christophe Sandoz
Keyword(s):  
Honey Bees ◽  
Antennal Lobe ◽  
Bombus Terrestris ◽  
Bumble Bees ◽  
Foraging Strategies ◽  
Bumble Bee ◽  
Carbon Chain Length ◽  
Olfactory Coding ◽  
Major Transitions

AbstractSociality is classified as one of the major transitions in evolution, with the largest number of eusocial species found in the insect order Hymenoptera, including the Apini (honey bees) and the Bombini (bumble bees). Bumble bees and honey bees not only differ in their social organization and foraging strategies, but comparative analyses of their genomes demonstrated that bumble bees have a slightly less diverse family of olfactory receptors than honey bees, suggesting that their olfactory abilities have adapted to different social and/or ecological conditions. However, unfortunately, no precise comparison of olfactory coding has been performed so far between honey bees and bumble bees, and little is known about the rules underlying olfactory coding in the bumble bee brain. In this study, we used in vivo calcium imaging to study olfactory coding of a panel of floral odorants in the antennal lobe of the bumble bee Bombus terrestris. Our results show that odorants induce reproducible neuronal activity in the bumble bee antennal lobe. Each odorant evokes a different glomerular activity pattern revealing this molecule’s chemical structure, i.e. its carbon chain length and functional group. In addition, pairwise similarity among odor representations are conserved in bumble bees and honey bees. This study thus suggests that bumble bees, like honey bees, are equipped to respond to odorants according to their chemical features.

Bumble bee colony growth and reproduction on reclaimed surface coal mines

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 183-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessie Lanterman ◽  
Karen Goodell
Keyword(s):  
Coal Mines ◽  
Colony Growth ◽  
Bumble Bee ◽  
Bee Colony ◽  
Growth And Reproduction

scholarly journals Annual flowers strips benefit bumble bee colony growth and reproduction

2020 ◽  
Vol 252 ◽  
pp. 108814
Author(s):  
Björn K. Klatt ◽  
Lovisa Nilsson ◽  
Henrik G. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Colony Growth ◽  
Bumble Bee ◽  
Bee Colony ◽  
Growth And Reproduction

scholarly journals Colony Development and Reproductive Success of Bumblebees in an Urban Gradient

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 1936 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chatura Vaidya ◽  
Kaleigh Fisher ◽  
John Vandermeer
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Colony Development ◽  
Urban Gradient

scholarly journals Consistent pollen nutritional intake drives bumble bee (Bombus impatiens) colony growth and reproduction across different habitats

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 5765-5776 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony D. Vaudo ◽  
Liam M. Farrell ◽  
Harland M. Patch ◽  
Christina M. Grozinger ◽  
John F. Tooker
Keyword(s):  
Colony Growth ◽  
Bombus Impatiens ◽  
Nutritional Intake ◽  
Bumble Bee ◽  
Growth And Reproduction

scholarly journals Data-driven multiscale modeling reveals the role of metabolic coupling for the spatio-temporal growth dynamics of yeast colonies

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jukka Intosalmi ◽  
Adrian C. Scott ◽  
Michelle Hays ◽  
Nicholas Flann ◽  
Olli Yli-Harja ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Data ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Growth Dynamics ◽  
Colony Growth ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Coarse Grained ◽  
Colony Development ◽  
Intercellular Signaling ◽  
Metabolic Coupling ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background Multicellular entities like mammalian tissues or microbial biofilms typically exhibit complex spatial arrangements that are adapted to their specific functions or environments. These structures result from intercellular signaling as well as from the interaction with the environment that allow cells of the same genotype to differentiate into well-organized communities of diversified cells. Despite its importance, our understanding how this cell–cell and metabolic coupling lead to functionally optimized structures is still limited. Results Here, we present a data-driven spatial framework to computationally investigate the development of yeast colonies as such a multicellular structure in dependence on metabolic capacity. For this purpose, we first developed and parameterized a dynamic cell state and growth model for yeast based on on experimental data from homogeneous liquid media conditions. The inferred model is subsequently used in a spatially coarse-grained model for colony development to investigate the effect of metabolic coupling by calibrating spatial parameters from experimental time-course data of colony growth using state-of-the-art statistical techniques for model uncertainty and parameter estimations. The model is finally validated by independent experimental data of an alternative yeast strain with distinct metabolic characteristics and illustrates the impact of metabolic coupling for structure formation. Conclusions We introduce a novel model for yeast colony formation, present a statistical methodology for model calibration in a data-driven manner, and demonstrate how the established model can be used to generate predictions across scales by validation against independent measurements of genetically distinct yeast strains.

First Complete Genome of Lake Sinai Virus Lineage 3 and Genetic Diversity of Lake Sinai Virus Strains From Honey Bees and Bumble Bees

2020 ◽  
Vol 113 (3) ◽  
pp. 1055-1061 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Šimenc ◽  
Urška Kuhar ◽  
Urška Jamnikar-Ciglenečki ◽  
Ivan Toplak
Keyword(s):  
Honey Bee ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Complete Genome ◽  
Bumble Bees ◽  
Bumble Bee ◽  
Rt Pcr ◽  
Genome Region ◽  
Pcr Method ◽  
Next Generation Sequencing Ngs ◽  
First Time

Abstract The complete genome of Lake Sinai virus 3 (LSV3) was sequenced by the Ion Torrent next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology from an archive sample of honey bees collected in 2010. This strain M92/2010 is the first complete genome sequence of LSV lineage 3. From October 2016 to December 2017, 56 honey bee samples from 32 different locations and 41 bumble bee samples from five different locations were collected. These samples were tested using a specific reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method; 75.92% of honey bee samples and 17.07% of bumble bee samples were LSV-positive with the RT-PCR method. Phylogenetic comparison of 557-base pair-long RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) genome region of selected 23 positive samples of honey bees and three positive bumble bee samples identified three different LSV lineages: LSV1, LSV2, and LSV3. The LSV3 lineage was confirmed for the first time in Slovenia in 2010, and the same strain was later detected in several locations within the country. The LSV strains detected in bumble bees are from 98.6 to 99.4% identical to LSV strains detected among honey bees in the same territory.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document