The Impact of Molecular Data on Our Understanding of Bee Phylogeny and Evolution

Danforth, Bryan N.; Cardinal, Sophie; Praz, Christophe; Almeida, Eduardo A. B.; Michez, Denis

doi:10.1146/annurev-ento-120811-153633

Cited by 210 publications

(174 citation statements)

References 91 publications

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“…Notably, their ability to regulate protein and lipids is more similar to arthropod predators than herbivores, perhaps because pollen is more nutritionally similar to prey (versus leaf tissue) with high protein and lipid concentrations (Jensen et al, 2011;Raubenheimer et al, 2007). Because bees are a monophyletic group evolved from predatory wasps (Danforth et al, 2013), it is likely that bees maintained their protein and lipid biases when making the transition to pollen feeding. There might be taxaspecific P:L intake targets across bee families, genera or species that could explain the patterns of foraging behavior and pollen preferences observed among host-plant species in field-based studies (Behmer and Joern, 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bumble bees regulate their intake of the essential protein and lipid pollen macronutrients

Vaudo

Stabler

Patch

et al. 2016

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Bee population declines are linked to reduction of nutritional resources due to land-use intensification, yet we know little about the specific nutritional needs of many bee species. Pollen provides bees their primary source of protein and lipids, but nutritional quality varies widely among host-plant species. Therefore, bees may be adapted to assess resource quality and adjust their foraging behavior to balance nutrition from multiple food sources. We tested the ability of two bumble bee species, Bombus terrestris and B. impatiens, to regulate protein and lipid intake. We restricted B. terrestris adults to single synthetic diets varying in protein:lipid ratios (P:L). The bees overate protein on low fat diets and overate lipid on high fat diets to reach their targets of lipid and protein respectively. The bees survived best on a 10:1 P:L diet; the risk of dying increased as a function of dietary lipid when bees ate diets with lipid contents greater than 5:1 P:L. Hypothesizing that P:L intake target of adult worker bumble bees was between 25:1-5:1, we presented workers from both species unbalanced but complementary paired diets to determine if they self-select their diet to reach a specific intake target. Bees consumed similar amounts of proteins and lipids in each treatment and averaged a 14:1 P:L for B. terrestris and 12:1 P:L for B. impatiens. These results demonstrate that adult worker bumble bees likely select foods that provide them with a specific ratio of P:L. These P:L intake targets could affect pollen foraging in the field and help explain patterns of host-plant species choice by bumble bees.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bumble bees regulate their intake of the essential protein and lipid pollen macronutrients

Vaudo

Stabler

Patch

et al. 2016

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…Changes in social behavior are correlated with changes in signaling chemistry in L. albipes (42). In halictids, two major sources of chemical signals have been described: the cuticle and the Dufour's gland.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Within halictids, there have been two to three gains of eusociality and at least 12 reversions to solitary behavior (42). These repeated gains and losses allow the identification of common changes in communication systems against phylogenetically independent changes in social structure.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Solitary bees reduce investment in communication compared with their social relatives

Wittwer

Hefetz

Simon

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Social animals must communicate to define group membership and coordinate social organization. For social insects, communication is predominantly mediated through chemical signals, and as social complexity increases, so does the requirement for a greater diversity of signals. This relationship is particularly true for advanced eusocial insects, including ants, bees, and wasps, whose chemical communication systems have been well-characterized. However, we know surprisingly little about how these communication systems evolve during the transition between solitary and group living. Here, we demonstrate that the sensory systems associated with signal perception are evolutionarily labile. In particular, we show that differences in signal production and perception are tightly associated with changes in social behavior in halictid bees. Our results suggest that social species require a greater investment in communication than their solitary counterparts and that species that have reverted from eusociality to solitary living have repeatedly reduced investment in these potentially costly sensory perception systems.

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“…The basal clades of most bee families include a high proportion of oligolecs (Westrich 1989;Wcislo and Cane 1996) and it has been argued that oligolecty is the basal state in bees with polylecty being a derived state with multiple origins (Müller 1996;Danforth et al 2013). One of the suggested mechanisms by which oligolecty is maintained is that plants may chemically protect their pollen to prevent overexploitation, thus necessitating specialisation to process difficult metabolites (Praz et al 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diet characterisation of solitary bees on farmland: dietary specialisation predicts rarity

2016

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Changes in agricultural practice across Europe and North America have been associated with declines in wild bee populations. Bee diet breadth has been associated with sensitivity to agricultural intensification, but much of this analysis has been conducted at the categorical level of generalist or specialist, and it is not clear to what extent the level of generalisation within generalist species is also associated with species persistence. We used pollen load analysis to quantify the pollen diets of wild solitary bees on 19 farms across southern England, UK. A total of 72 species of solitary bees were recorded, but only 31 species were abundant enough to allow for formal diet characterisation. The results broadly conformed to existing literature with the majority of species polylectic and collecting pollen from a wide range of plants. Pollen load analysis consistently identified pollens from more plant species and families from each bee species than direct observation of their foraging behaviour. After rarefaction to standardise pollen load sample sizes, diet breadth was significantly associated with frequency of occurrence, with more generalist bees present on more farms than less generalist bees. Our results show that the majority of bee species present on farmland in reasonable numbers are widely variable in their pollen choices, but that those with the broadest diet were present on the greatest number of farms. Increasing the diversity of plants included in agri-environment schemes may be necessary to provide a wider range of pollen resources in order to support a diverse bee community on farmland.Communicated by Eckehard G. Brockerhoff.Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article

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The Impact of Molecular Data on Our Understanding of Bee Phylogeny and Evolution

Cited by 210 publications

References 91 publications

Bumble bees regulate their intake of the essential protein and lipid pollen macronutrients

Bumble bees regulate their intake of the essential protein and lipid pollen macronutrients

Solitary bees reduce investment in communication compared with their social relatives

Diet characterisation of solitary bees on farmland: dietary specialisation predicts rarity

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