Effect of nest microclimate temperatures on metabolic rates of small carpenter bees, <i>Ceratina calcarata</i> (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

Richards, Miriam H.; Garate, Andrea Cardama; Shehata, Mary; Groom, Derrick J. E.; Tattersall, Glenn J.; Welch, Kenneth C.

doi:10.4039/tce.2020.50

Cited by 3 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…As expected, C. calcarata offspring exhibited higher metabolic rates (VCO 2 ) at 40°C than they did at 25°C, but sun and shade bees did not differ in their responses to temperature. The similarity in response contrasts with a previous study, in which bees from sunny nests showed elevated metabolic rates at 40°C (Richards et al 2020). Fieldwork for the previous study was carried out during the summer of 2016 which was one of the hottest, driest summers on record in southern Ontario, with temperatures slightly warmer than in 2020 (Supplementary Figure S2).…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

“…The smaller size of sun offspring is at odds with the observation that sun and shade mothers exhibited similar rates of pollen foraging, which should have produced offspring of similar body sizes (Danforth 1990; Bosch and Vicens 2002). That sun offspring ended up smaller suggests that during development, they diverted energetic resources away from processes promoting growth and so ended up smaller (Atkinson 1994; Richards et al 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Instead, we used the BeeCR to raise Ceratina pupae in a gradient of daily temperature cycles that included temperatures such as those in sun and shade nests. Combining this information with local temperature records, we can estimate developmental rates in sun and shade, assuming that sun nests reached maximum temperatures about 4°C higher on average than shade nests (this study, Richards et al 2020). In 2019, the mean air temperature at our research sites was 20.5°C, which predicts a pupal duration of 19.8 days in shade and 15.3 days in sun.…”

Section: Physiological Responses Of Offspring To Sun and Shade Microe...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Costs and benefits of maternal nest choice: tradeoffs between brood survival and thermal stress for small carpenter bees

deHaan

Maretzki

Skandalis

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Nest site selection is a crucial decision for bees because where mothers construct their nests influences the developmental environment of their offspring. Small carpenter bees (Ceratina calcarata) nest in sun or shade, suggesting that maternal decisions about nest sites are influenced by thermal conditions that influence juvenile growth and survival. We investigated the costs and benefits to mothers and their offspring of warmer or cooler nest sites using a field experiment in which mothers and newly founded nests were placed in sunny or shady habitats. Maternal costs and benefits in sunny and shady treatments were quantified by comparing brood provisioning behaviour, nest size, number of brood cells, and offspring survival rates. Juvenile costs and benefits were quantified as body size, high temperature tolerance (CTmax), metabolic rate, and pupal duration. The major maternal benefit of nesting in sun was significantly lower rates of total nest failure (caused by predation, parasitism or abandonment), which led to sun mothers producing 3.2 brood on average, while shade mothers produced only 2.9. However, sun nesting entailed costs to brood, which were significantly smaller, less likely to survive to adulthood and had significantly elevated CTmax. This suggests that juvenile bees in sun nests bees experienced thermal stress during development, causing them to shunt resources from growth to thermoprotection, at the cost of smaller size and higher mortality. Pupae raised in a thermal-gradient BeeCR machine developed significantly faster at warmer average temperatures, which may be an additional benefit of sun nesting. Overall, our results highlight a tradeoff between maternal benefits and offspring costs when mothers choose nest sites, in which maternal fitness is enhanced by nesting in sun, despite significant physiological costs to offspring, due to the necessity for thermoprotective responses.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Physiological Responses Of Offspring To Sun and Shade Microe...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Costs and benefits of maternal nest choice: tradeoffs between brood survival and thermal stress for small carpenter bees

deHaan

Maretzki

Skandalis

et al. 2022

Preprint

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“…Vegetation can generally reduce surrounding temperature [ 64 ] and at an even finer scale, flowers including daffodils possess independent microclimates which, in some cases, act as warming pads for bees [ 77 ]. Shade produced by vegetation cover or other environmental factors can also influence the microclimates of nests used by cavity-nesting bees [ 78 ]. Such microclimate effects within the nest can influence the metabolic rate and development of bee larvae [ 78 , 79 ].…”

Section: Local Featuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Shade produced by vegetation cover or other environmental factors can also influence the microclimates of nests used by cavity-nesting bees [ 78 ]. Such microclimate effects within the nest can influence the metabolic rate and development of bee larvae [ 78 , 79 ]. Abiotic factors i.e., nitrogen deposition, which is prevalent in urban areas, can interact synergistically with climate change in such a way that may influence local microclimates as well [ 7 , 80 ].…”

Section: Local Featuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Supporting Bees in Cities: How Bees Are Influenced by Local and Landscape Features

Ayers

Rehan

2021

Insects

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Urbanization is a major anthropogenic driver of decline for ecologically and economically important taxa including bees. Despite their generally negative impact on pollinators, cities can display a surprising degree of biodiversity compared to other landscapes. The pollinating communities found within these environments, however, tend to be filtered by interacting local and landscape features that comprise the urban matrix. Landscape and local features exert variable influence on pollinators within and across taxa, which ultimately affects community composition in such a way that contributes to functional trait homogenization and reduced phylogenetic diversity. Although previous results are not easily generalizable, bees and pollinators displaying functional trait characteristics such as polylectic diet, cavity-nesting behavior, and later emergence appear most abundant across different examined cities. To preserve particularly vulnerable species, most notably specialists that have become underrepresented within city communities, green spaces like parks and urban gardens have been examined as potential refuges. Such spaces are scattered across the urban matrix and vary in pollinator resource availability. Therefore, ensuring such spaces are optimized for pollinators is imperative. This review examines how urban features affect pollinators in addition to ways these green spaces can be manipulated to promote greater pollinator abundance and diversity.

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Bees display limited acclimation capacity for heat tolerance

Gonzalez,

Herbison,

Robles Perez

et al. 2024

Biology Open

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Bees are essential pollinators and understanding their ability to cope with extreme temperature changes is crucial for predicting their resilience to climate change, but studies are limited. We measured the response of the critical thermal maximum (CTMax) to short-term acclimation in foragers of six bee species from the Greek island of Lesvos, which differ in body size, nesting habit, and level of sociality. We calculated the acclimation response ratio as a metric to assess acclimation capacity and tested whether bees’ acclimation capacity was influenced by body size and/or CTMax. We also assessed whether CTMax increases following acute heat exposure simulating a heat wave. Average estimate of CTMax varied among species and increased with body size but did not significantly shift in response to acclimation treatment except in the sweat bee Lasioglossum malachurum. Acclimation capacity averaged 9% among species and it was not significantly associated with body size or CTMax. Similarly, the average CTMax did not increase following acute heat exposure. These results indicate that bees might have limited capacity to enhance heat tolerance via acclimation or in response to prior heat exposure, rendering them physiologically sensitive to rapid temperature changes during extreme weather events. These findings reinforce the idea that insects, like other ectotherms, generally express weak plasticity in CTMax underscoring the critical role of behavioral thermoregulation for avoidance of extreme temperatures. Conserving and restoring native vegetation can provide bees temporary thermal refuges during extreme weather events.

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Effect of nest microclimate temperatures on metabolic rates of small carpenter bees, Ceratina calcarata (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

Cited by 3 publications

References 19 publications

Costs and benefits of maternal nest choice: tradeoffs between brood survival and thermal stress for small carpenter bees

Costs and benefits of maternal nest choice: tradeoffs between brood survival and thermal stress for small carpenter bees

Supporting Bees in Cities: How Bees Are Influenced by Local and Landscape Features

Bees display limited acclimation capacity for heat tolerance

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