Insect sociality plays a major role in a highly complex flower-visiting network in the neotropical savanna

Pires, Epifânio Porfiro; Faria, Lucas Del Bianco; Monteiro, Ana Cristina Andrade; Domingos, Daniel Quedes; Mansanares, Mariana Esteves; Hermes, Marcel G.

doi:10.1007/s13592-022-00923-8

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…Within the bee modules, social bees and wasps exhibit generalist behavior at the colony level, but display individual-level specialization due to the variability in foraging behaviors between individuals within and between species, interacting with multiple generalist flowers (Pires et al, 2022). However, solitary bees exhibit F I G U R E 5 Records of flower-visiting/pollinator-plant interaction studies in the seven biogeographic districts of the Cerrado biome in Brazil, determined by Françoso et al (2020)), based on the differences in plant species composition, endemism, and climatic conditions among biogeographic districts.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Within the bee modules, social bees and wasps exhibit generalist behavior at the colony level, but display individual‐level specialization due to the variability in foraging behaviors between individuals within and between species, interacting with multiple generalist flowers (Pires et al., 2022 ). However, solitary bees exhibit more distinct differences in foraging traits.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Untangling biodiversity interactions: A meta network on pollination in Earth's most diverse tropical savanna

Aguiar,

Diniz,

Bueno‐Rocha

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

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Pollination is vital for ecosystem functioning, especially in biodiversity‐rich regions like the Brazilian Cerrado. Our research establishes a comprehensive meta network of pollinator–plant interactions within this biome. We quantified the importance of different pollinator groups, identifying keystone species. We examined potential biases in sampling effort and the spatial behavior of interactions within the heterogeneous Cerrado plant physiognomies. Our investigation uncovered 1499 interactions among 293 plant species and 386 visitor species, with legitimate pollination accounting for 42.4% of the interactions. The network exhibited modularity, driven by bees and insects, with vertebrates bridging diurnal and nocturnal modules. While a generalized pattern emerged, high specialization existed within modules due to habitat diversity. Bees, particularly Apis mellifera (exotic) and Trigona spinipes (native), played central roles as network hubs. Hummingbirds and bats, engaged in specialized interactions showing strong connectivity within and between modules. Interestingly, invertebrate–vertebrate modules were more prevalent than expected in the meta network. However, a bias was evident, primarily within specific biogeographical districts with fragmented landscapes and intrusion from other biomes. Variations in plant species and endemism rates influenced pollinator occurrence and the Cerrado network topology. Our study offers valuable insights into pollinator–plant interactions within the Cerrado, encompassing both invertebrates and vertebrates. The modeled network represents a significant step in understanding the structural complexity of pollination networks, integrating partial networks from diverse pollination systems within heterogeneous habitats. Nevertheless, a biogeographical bias could limit a comprehensive understanding of network functionality across the Cerrado.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Untangling biodiversity interactions: A meta network on pollination in Earth's most diverse tropical savanna

Aguiar,

Diniz,

Bueno‐Rocha

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

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“…Previous research has highlighted the prominent role social pollinator species have in interaction networks compared to solitary species (Maia et al., 2019; Pires et al., 2022). Our findings reflect that a large number of solitary species tend to have lower centrality values, though those solitary species that do have more central roles in the networks had high ITV.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We showed that social and solitary pollinators had similar ITV, though they differed in their degree of specialisation across and within species. Furthermore, beyond the known central role social pollinators play in plant–pollinator communities (Maia et al., 2019; Pires et al., 2022), solitary pollinators can also play prominent roles in the community, especially those species with high ITV. This reinforces the idea that solitary pollinators not only are important contributors to ecosystem functions (Bänsch et al., 2021; Garibaldi et al., 2013) but also that changes in their population dynamics can rapidly spread through the community.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pollinator intraspecific body size variation and sociality influence their interactions with plants

Peralta,

Resasco,

Worthy

et al. 2024

Functional Ecology

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Species morphological and behavioural traits are key determinants of which pollinator species interact with which plant species. However, individuals within species are not identical in their traits and this diversity could help us understand plant–pollinator interaction patterns. Using three independent data sets, we assessed whether bee intraspecific body size variation (ITV) and sociality influenced pollinator interaction specialisation, intraspecific niche partitioning, centrality in the interaction network and phylogenetic diversity of the plants visited. We found that solitary pollinators were more specialised in their interactions with plants and had lower intraspecific niche partitioning compared to social pollinators. Furthermore, solitary pollinators with higher ITV had higher centrality in the network and visited a higher phylogenetic diversity of plants compared to solitary species with lower ITV, whereas the opposite pattern emerged for social pollinators. Pollinator ITV did not differ between social and solitary bee species. Our findings show that the effect of pollinator body size variation on plant–pollinator interactions depends on pollinator species sociality. Specifically, solitary pollinators with higher ITV and social pollinators with lower ITV seem to be the most important contributors to maintaining the evolutionary diversity of the plant community, and also the species with the largest potential to affect (via cascade effects) the entire plant–pollinator network. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

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“…Among Neotropical vespids, two taxa stand out in this regard: Eumeninae, with 3404 species (Piekarski et al 2018), usually builds their nests with mud and are commonly classified as solitary wasps (Hermes et al 2014); and Polistinae, with 1003 species (Piekarski et al 2018), uses macerated cellulose for nesting and presents eusocial behavior (Somavilla and Carpenter 2021). Several ecosystem services are attributed to these insects, including floral visiting (Pires et al 2022) and biological control of agricultural pests (Jacques et al 2020), which demonstrates their ecological and economic importance (Brock et al 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nesting of the keyhole wasp Pachodynerus nasidens (Latreille, 1812) (Vespidae, Eumeninae) in a nest of a paper wasp (Vespidae, Polistinae)

Jacques¹,

Ferreira²,

Moura³

et al. 2022

JHR

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Potter wasps (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Eumeninae) adopt different substrates for nesting, including other wasp nests. Nevertheless, such behavior rarely occurs with abandoned nests of the paper wasps (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Polistinae). In this study, we report the occurrence involving the nesting of a potter wasp on a paper wasp’s nest. Such a record occurred in November 2021 in a segment of a deciduous forest, at Mata Seca State Park, Southeast Brazil. An abandoned Polistinae nest was found, with 14 cells sealed with mud, from which four male Pachodynerus nasidens individuals emerged. This record of P. nasidens reusing a Polistinae’s nest increases our knowledge of Eumeninae nesting strategies and on possible associations between different groups of vespid wasps.

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Insect sociality plays a major role in a highly complex flower-visiting network in the neotropical savanna

Cited by 4 publications

References 58 publications

Untangling biodiversity interactions: A meta network on pollination in Earth's most diverse tropical savanna

Untangling biodiversity interactions: A meta network on pollination in Earth's most diverse tropical savanna

Pollinator intraspecific body size variation and sociality influence their interactions with plants

Nesting of the keyhole wasp Pachodynerus nasidens (Latreille, 1812) (Vespidae, Eumeninae) in a nest of a paper wasp (Vespidae, Polistinae)

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