Spatio‐temporal variation of colony structure and eusociality level of the Japanese sweat bee Lasioglossum (Evylaeus) duplex (Hymenoptera: Halictidae)

Hirata, Masanori; Cronin, Adam L.; Kidokoro, Midori; Azuma, Noriko

doi:10.1007/s11284-004-0005-x

Cited by 7 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…I was interested in whether the pattern of larger colony sizes in the temperate zone would hold if I reanalyzed the data with the latitudinal position of each species (the data had been lumped into either 'tropical' and 'temperate' categories in the original analysis). I selected one subfamily that showed strong support for their hypothesis that colony size was greater in the temperate zone (Formicinae) and one subfamily that (2008) Lasioglossum duplex two habitats in northern Japan degree of sociality intraspecific Hirata et al (2005) appeared to be more neutral (Ponerinae). For Kaspari & Vargo's (1995) analysis, the subfamily Ectatomminae was embedded within Ponerinae, and I separated the two in my own analysis.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geographic patterns in the distribution of social systems in terrestrial arthropods

Purcell

2010

Biological Reviews

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The role of ecology in the evolution and maintenance of arthropod sociality has received increasing research attention in recent years. In some organisms, such as halictine bees, polistine wasps, and social spiders, researchers are investigating the environmental factors that may contribute to high levels of variation in the degree of sociality exhibited both among and within species. Within lineages that include only eusocial members, such as ants and termites, studies focus more on identifying extrinsic factors that may contribute to the dramatic variation in colony size, number of queens, and division of labour that is evident across these species. In this review, I propose a comparative approach that seeks to identify environmental factors that may have a common influence across such divergent social arthropod groups. I suggest that seeking common biogeographic patterns in the distribution of social systems or key social traits may help us to identify ecological factors that play a common role in shaping the evolution of sociality across different organisms. I first review previous studies of social gradients that form along latitudinal and altitudinal axes. Within families and within species, many organisms show an increasing degree of sociality at lower latitudes and altitudes. In a smaller number of cases, organisms form larger groups or found nests cooperatively at higher latitudes and altitudes. I then describe several environmental factors that vary consistently along such gradients, including climate variables and abundance of predators, and outline their proposed role in the social systems of terrestrial arthropods. Finally, I map distributions of a social trait against several climatic factors in five case studies to demonstrate how future comparative studies could inform empirical research.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geographic patterns in the distribution of social systems in terrestrial arthropods

Purcell

2010

Biological Reviews

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“…In sweat bees, eusociality is characterized by the behavioural totipotency of all adult females, such that any newly eclosed female is potentially capable of taking on either the queen or worker role (Yanega 1989(Yanega , 1990. The flexibility inherent in the behaviour of individual females is also observed at the level of entire colonies or populations, as there is considerable evidence for both intraand inter-population variation in colony social organisation, especially in response to local climatic conditions (Yanega 1993, Miyanaga et al 1999, Hirata et al 2005, Kocher and Paxton 2014. Ultimately, variation in colony social organisation seems to reflect colony or population-typical outcomes of conflict between queens and workers over control of reproduction, the conflict being moderated by the environmental conditions experienced by individual bees and colonies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phenological, but not social, variation associated with climate differences in a eusocial sweat bee, Halictus ligatus, nesting in southern Ontario

Richards¹,

Onuferko²,

Rehan³

2015

JHR

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Studies of annual and geographic variation in eusocial bee populations suggest that more stringent environmental conditions result in stronger reproductive skew favouring queens, while moderate conditions favour increasing worker reproduction. To test these predictions, we compared the phenology and colony development of H. ligatus nesting in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada to a previously studied aggregation 90 km north of St. Catharines, in Victoria, Ontario. Despite the close proximity of these two locations, St. Catharines has markedly shorter winters and longer summers. Comparisons between St. Catharines in 2006 and Victoria in the 1980s and 1990s incorporate both geographic differences in climate and temporal differences due to climate change. We predicted that St. Catharines foundress queens should emerge from hibernation and initiate nests earlier in spring, giving them time to produce more workers. Since earlier studies indicated that queens have difficulty suppressing worker reproduction in larger colonies, we also predicted higher rates of worker ovarian development in St. Catharines. In spring and summer 2006, we excavated 65 H. ligatus nests, comparing their contents to 713 specimens collected in pan traps. As predicted, nests were initiated about a month earlier in St. Catharines than in Victoria, but contrary to prediction, fewer workers were produced in St. Catharines. St. Catharines workers were just as likely to have developed ovaries as Victoria workers. About 40% of St. Catharines workers were classified as reproductive, and larger reproductive workers tended to have higher ovarian scores. RESEARCH ARTICLEMiriam H. Richards et al. / Journal of Hymenoptera Research 43: 19-44 (2015) 20 evidence that queens can initiate new nests following the loss of their first brood, overlap between worker and gyne production within some nests, and high rates of independent nest founding by worker-sized females, suggesting that many worker-brood females overwinter. Overall, the distinctly warmer climate of St. Catharines compared to Victoria led to earlier nest initiation and lengthening of the flight season, but not to the predicted differences in colony social organisation or queen-worker reproductive skew. A second objective of our study was to assess how well pan trap collections capture important information about demographic and social parameters important in assessing social variability in sweat bees. Nest excavations and pan traps produced similar results, suggesting that pan traps are a good alternative when nest excavations are impossible.

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“…Bees of the family Halictidae exhibit a great variability with respect to social organization, both within and among species (Hirata et al, 2005;Packer, 1998;Plateaux-QuØnu, 1993;Richards et al, 2003;Yanega, 1988). This extreme social diversity seems to be strongly affected by environmental conditions (for review, see Wcislo, 1997;Yanega, 1997), although a genetic influence on the life strategy is sometimes involved as well (Danforth et al, 2003;Plateaux-QuØnu et al, 2000;Soucy and Danforth, 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of soil temperature on the nesting cycle of the halictid bee Lasioglossum malachurum

et al. 2006

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The physiology and behavior of ectothermic organisms is strongly influenced by temperature. For ground nesting species like the primitively eusocial halictid bee, Lasioglossum malachurum, soil temperature might influence the life cycle as well as the complexity of the social group since the number of broods that can be fitted into the flight season might increase with increasing temperature. Our study population of L. malachurum at Wuerzburg exhibits a remarkable variability with respect to the number of broods and the pattern of sexual production. Broods are separated by activity pauses during which the larvae develop. In this study we investigate the influence of soil temperature on the pattern of nesting activity (duration of broods and pauses) and on the number of broods in L. malachurum. We observed a total of 1138 nests in 13 aggregations near Wuerzburg. As expected, soil temperature shortened the duration of the pauses, resulting in an overall shortening of the nesting cycle. This is most probably due to a physiological effect of soil temperature on the development of the larvae. With regard to the nesting strategies, we hypothesized that a shortening of the nesting cycle within the limited flight season should enhance the success of a strategy with more worker broods. In fact, patches with higher soil temperature showed more broods. However, this effect was rather weak, suggesting that other factors might have a stronger impact on the variability in nesting strategy within our study population of L. malachurum.

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Spatio‐temporal variation of colony structure and eusociality level of the Japanese sweat bee Lasioglossum (Evylaeus) duplex (Hymenoptera: Halictidae)

Cited by 7 publications

References 15 publications

Geographic patterns in the distribution of social systems in terrestrial arthropods

Geographic patterns in the distribution of social systems in terrestrial arthropods

Phenological, but not social, variation associated with climate differences in a eusocial sweat bee, Halictus ligatus, nesting in southern Ontario

The influence of soil temperature on the nesting cycle of the halictid bee Lasioglossum malachurum

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