Effect of food quality, distance and height on thoracic temperature in the stingless beeMelipona panamica

Abstract

Corrigendum Nieh, J. C. and Sánchez, D. Effect of food quality, distance and height on thoracic temperature in the stingless bee Melipona panamica. J. Exp. Biol. 208,[3933][3934][3935][3936][3937][3938][3939][3940][3941][3942][3943] On the title page of this paper, Daniel Sanchez was incorrectly affiliated to Division of Biological Sciences, Section of Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution, University of California San Diego, MC#0116, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0116, USAThe correct affiliation should have read:El Colegio de la Frontera Sur, Carretera Antiguo Aeropuerto km 2.5, 30700 Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico.We apologise for any inconvenience caused by this error. 3933Thermoregulation is widespread among large-bodied insects (Heinrich, 1993), particularly the Hymenoptera (Himmer, 1932), wasps (Coelho and Ross, 1996;Stabentheiner et al., 2004), solitary bees (Baird, 1986;Chappell, 1982;May and Casey, 1983;Nicolson and Louw, 1982;Stone, 1993a) and social bees (Bujok et al., 2002;Kleinhenz et al., 2003;Seeley et al., 2003;Stabentheiner et al., 1990;Starks and Gilley, 1999). Thermoregulation has significant ecological consequences (Corbet et al., 1993) because internal heat generation enables solitary (Stone, 1994) and social bees (Heinrich, 1993) to forage and pollinate under colder ambient conditions compared to animals that cannot actively thermoregulate.Several studies have found evidence for thoracic temperature regulation during honeybee recruitment (Esch, 1960;Stabentheiner, 2001;Stabentheiner and Hagmüller, 1991;Waddington, 1990). Honeybees can regulate their body temperature according to food quality, exhibiting higher thoracic temperatures after feeding at richer food sources (Schmaranzer and Stabentheiner, 1988;Underwood, 1991). Thoracic temperature positively correlates with the quality of the food as perceived by sweetness (Stabentheiner and Hagmüller, 1991), proximity to the nest (Esch, 1960;Stabentheiner, 1996) and nectar flow rate (Farina and Wainselboim, 2001). Moreover, thoracic temperatures are affected by the status of the hive (amount of pollen and nectar stores) and are thus tuned to colony need (Schulz et al., 1998). Mechanistically, honeybee thoracic temperature is tied to metabolic expenditure, which increases with increasing sugar concentration and nectar flow rate (Moffatt and Nunez, 1997), and perhaps with forager motivational state (Balderrama et al., 1992). Honeybee thoracic temperature is tied to the thermal stability and the ability to generate high mechanical power output in flight (Dudley, 2000;Woods et al., 2005).To date, no studies have examined whether stingless bees have similar thermal abilities. We therefore hypothesized that food profitability to the colony would significantly affect the temperatures of recruiting meliponine foragers at the feeder and inside the nest.What little is known about meliponine thermoregulation largely concerns the regulation of nest temperatures, not individual thermoregulation (Kerr and Laidlaw, 1956;Kerr et al., 1967;Michener, 1974;Roubik...

The effect of ambient temperature on forager sound production and thoracic temperature in the stingless bee, Melipona panamica

“…Also, foragers maintained a higher thoracic temperature excess (A7VH) relative to ambient temperature and feeder temperature at low ambient temperatures (A77 A cold: 13.30°C±2.39°C, A7% normal: 6.47°C±1.40°C, f<0.0001; Fig. 6a,b), as Nieh and Sanchez (2005) predicted for M. panamica.…”

“…These results raised interesting possibilities about stingless bee foragers being able to regulate body temperature according to net food profitability, as has been shown in other Hymenoptera (e.g., Apis mellifera, Paravespula vulgaris, Kovac and Stabentheiner 1999;Bujok et al 2002). Nieh and Sanchez (2005) recently tested this possibility in the stingless bee, Melipona panamica. Using infrared thermography, they showed that M. panamica foragers can elevate their thoracic temperature in response to profitable food sources (higher sucrose concentration, location closer to the nest) on the feeder and inside the nest.…”

“…We only measured T Tli from painted-thorax foragers. The measurement of painted surfaces to determine accurate substrate temperatures is a standard thermographic practice (Wolfe and Zissis 1985), and the thin layer of paint does not interfere with meliponine temperature measurements (Nieh and Sanchez 2005). The feeder plate temperature was collected at a point at the side of the place the forager was feeding with the device also held 1 to 2 mm away from the surface (plate oxidization allowed accurate IR temperature measurement, Wolfe and Zissis 1985).…”

“…Using infrared thermography, they showed that M. panamica foragers can elevate their thoracic temperature in response to profitable food sources (higher sucrose concentration, location closer to the nest) on the feeder and inside the nest. Inside the nest, the difference between thoracic temperature and ambient air temperature (A 7%) was weakly correlated with a 0.4°C decrease with each 100 m increase in feeder-to-nest distance and strongly correlated with a 0.1 °C per 1 mol l 1 increase with increasing sucrose concentration (Nieh and Sanchez 2005). In stingless bees, the ability to adjust body temperature according to food quality could be linked to flight because honeybee and bumblebee flight muscles must reach a minimal temperature before take-off (Coelho 1991;Heinrich 1993;Dudley 2000;Harrison and Fewell 2002;Woods et al 2005).…”

“…In this study, we provide the first detailed description of meliponine feeding sounds. We used M. panamica because this is the best-studied meliponine species in regard to foraging body temperatures (Nieh and Sanchez 2005) and because this species does particularly well at imbibing viscous sucrose solutions (Roubik and Buchmann 1984), as induced by our experimental manipulations of feeder temperature. In M. panamica, perched foraging sounds probably are not related to food source communication because foragers may produce sounds when they are alone on the food source and no other bees are in the vicinity.…”