Survey Of Bees Research Articles

Molecular detection of Melissococcus plutonius assessed in Africanized honey bee populations (Apis mellifera) in three regions of Colombia

Beekeepers in Colombia are using almost exclusively Africanized hybrids which are considered to be more resistant to diseases and climatic conditions than European-derived honey bee populations. There are no reports of losses of larval and adult bee populations in the country due to infectious diseases. However, there is no official diagnostic system to detect the presence of pathogenic bacteria for Apis mellifera, such as Melissococcus plutonius and Paenibacillus larvae causing European foulbrood and American foulbrood respectively. To assess their presence and prevalence in a large sample sets, representatives of beekeeping populations in the country, we conducted a study on 491 of 5400 registered hives located in three regions in Colombia, analyzing larvae samples with conventional and molecular real-time PCR and molecular taxonomy techniques. Out of the two bacteria targeted, only M. plutonius was detected in 7 of the 491(1.4%) larval samples in all three regions in this sampling campaign. There was no evidence of symptoms consistent with European or American foulbrood. Therefore we are updating and confirming the low prevalence of M. plutonius and the no detection of P. larvae in an extensive sampling survey of Africanized bees at three different regions of Colombia. Our results are consistent with the view that africanized hybrid bees are more more resistant to diseases.

A Checklist of the Bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) of St. Louis, Missouri, USA

Concern over the declines of pollinator populations during the last decade has resulted in calls from governments and international agencies to better monitor these organisms. Recent studies of bee diversity in urban environments suggest that cities may contain significant amounts of bee species, even greater than surrounding agricultural areas, and in some occasions comparable to natural habitats. We conducted a three-year survey of bees in the city of St. Louis, MO. Like many other post-industrial cities in the United States, St. Louis is considered a shrinking city, with many vacant lots and unoccupied structures, mostly in the urban core. We sampled a broad range of habitats throughout the growing seasons of 2013 to 2016, e.g., vacant lots, city parks, community gardens, and urban farms, using aerial netting. This resulted in over 7,700 specimens. Data from other surveys, e.g., BioBlitz, and personal collections was also utilized in developing the species list. These data were supplemented with inspections of entomological collections from institutions in the state and the scientific literature. We identified a total of 198 species of bees from five different families that occur in the city. Only nine of the bee species present in the city are non-natives. The city of St. Louis currently hosts nearly 45% of the bee diversity of the state, likely making it one of most species-rich cities relative to its state's total bee fauna in the country. This represents a great natural resource that must be better understood, and has potential conservation implications.

Bumble bee use of post‐fire chaparral in the central Sierra Nevada

ABSTRACTBumble bees (Bombus spp.) are declining across many regions in the Northern Hemisphere, leading to a need for management actions that will protect and enhance their habitats. In the Sierra Nevada of California, USA, montane chaparral is prevalent across the landscape, particularly after forest fires, and may provide important floral resources for pollinators. However post‐fire montane chaparral is often targeted for removal during reforestation efforts, to reduce competition with young trees. In 2015 and 2016, we conducted non‐lethal bumble bee surveys within 2 areas in the Sierra Nevada that burned in forest fires in 2004. Our goals were to describe bumble bee abundance and species richness in a post‐fire landscape, to compare results from chaparral‐dominated upland vegetation with results from interspersed patches of riparian vegetation, and to identify characteristics of individual chaparral stands that might make some stands more valuable to bumble bees than others. We captured 2,494 bumble bees of 12 species, and used Bayesian hierarchical modeling to determine that bumble bee abundance was substantially greater in riparian plots (modeled capture rate = 1.10 ± 0.31 [SD] bees/survey in 2015, and 2.96 ± 0.83 bees/survey in 2016) than in upland plots ( = 0.47 ± 0.07 bees/survey in 2015, and 1.27 ± 0.18 bees/survey in 2016), which comprised a mix of chaparral shrubs and associated herbaceous plants. Modeled species richness was also greater in riparian plots, with an average mean richness of 4.1 ± 1.8 bumble bee species in riparian plots versus 2.3 ± 1.3 species in upland plots across the 2 years of the study. Within upland and riparian areas, plots dominated by herbaceous vegetation had greater abundance and species richness. One chaparral shrub species, bearclover (Chamaebatia foliolosa), was foraged on preferentially over all other shrub species and over all but 1 forb taxon, and was associated with increased occupancy probability in the Vosnesensky bumble bee (Bombus vosnesenskii), the most abundant bumble bee species on our study plots. A complex of closely related herbaceous species in the genus Phacelia, commonly associated with upland chaparral in our study area, was the plant taxon most frequently used by bumble bees, and appeared to be particularly important during mid‐summer after bearclover flowers became scarce. Our findings suggest that post‐fire chaparral communities are generally less intensively used by bumble bees than nearby riparian vegetation but may nevertheless provide important habitat. When chaparral removal is part of post‐fire forest regeneration strategies, bumble bees will likely benefit from retention of a mosaic of upland habitat patches dominated by herbaceous vegetation and, in our study area, bearclover, which may provide foraging resources throughout the life cycle of local bumble bee colonies. Because habitat characteristics affected the occupancy of individual bumble bee species differently, managers should consider foraging preferences of target bumble bee species when making land management decisions. © 2017 The Wildlife Society.

Checklist of bees (Apoidea) from a private conservation property in west-central Montana.

BackgroundHere we present preliminary results from the first three years of a long-term bee survey conducted at a 3,840-ha private conservation property in the northern Sapphire Mountains and Bitterroot River Valley, and a pilot study at an associated 80-ha property in the Swan River Valley, Missoula County, Montana, USA. The survey includes hand-net, bowl-trap, and blue-vane trap collections. The resulting checklist comprises 229 bee species and morphospecies within 5 families, 38 genera and 91 subgenera. Of the total species in the list, 34 of them represent first state records Montana. This survey expands the number of bee species recorded in Montana to 366. Included in these species is Megachile (Eutricharaea) apicalis Spinola, showing a range expansion for this introduced bee.New informationWe present new distributional records for 34 bee species, including Megachile (Eutricharaea) apicalis Spinola, an introduced bee that was discovered to be resident in North America in 1984 in Santa Barbara County, California. This species has since expanded its range in the across the west, but had not been previously recorded in Montana.

Bee Community of Commercial Potato Fields in Michigan and Bombus impatiens Visitation to Neonicotinoid-Treated Potato Plants.

We conducted a bee survey in neonicotinoid-treated commercial potato fields using bowl and vane traps in the 2016 growing season. Traps were placed outside the fields, at the field edges, and 10 and 30 m into the fields. We collected 756 bees representing 58 species, with Lasioglossum spp. comprising 73% of all captured bees. We found seven Bombus spp., of which B. impatiens was the only known visitor of potato flowers in our region. The majority of the bees (68%) were collected at the field edges and in the field margins. Blue vane traps caught almost four-times as many bees and collected 30% more species compared to bowl traps. Bee communities did not differ across trap locations but they were different among trap types. We tested B. impatiens visitation to neonicotinoid treated and untreated potato flowers in field enclosures. The amount of time bees spent at flowers and the duration of visits were not significantly different between the two treatments. Our results demonstrate that a diverse assemblage of bees is associated with an agroecosystem dominated by potatoes despite the apparent lack of pollinator resources provided by the crop. We found no difference in B. impatiens foraging behavior on neonicotinoid-treated compared to untreated plants.

The Persistence of Bumble Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in Northeastern Texas

The bumble bee (Bombus spp.) fauna of Texas has been infrequently studied and few modern surveys have been conducted to assess the current status of the state's species. A significant body of research has documented declines for bumble bee species across several continents including North America. Historically, six bumble bee species have been recorded from northeastern Texas: B. griseocollis (De Geer 1773), B. bimaculatus Cresson 1863, B. impatiens Cresson 1863, B. variabilis (Cresson 1872), B. fraternus (Smith 1854), and B. pensylvanicus (De Geer 1773). Three of those (B. fraternus, B. pensylvanicus, and B. variablis) are considered potentially threatened given evidence of range-wide declines. However, the current status of these species in northeast Texas has not been addressed. In this study we perform field surveys of bumble bees in northeastern Texas and compare those data to historical specimen records to evaluate the current status of historically present species. We confirm that B. fraternus, B. griseocollis, and B. pensylvanicus persist across the study region. The remaining species, B. bimaculatus, B. impatiens, and B. variabilis, were historically rare in the study region and were not detected in the present study; the two former are on the western edge of their ranges in Texas and the latter is a cleptoparasitic species that is inherently difficult to detect. The results of this study establish current bumble bee persistence in northeast Texas and can serve as a departure point for future assessments of bumble bee species dynamics.

Taxonomic and Behavioral Composition of an Island Fauna: A Survey of Bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila) on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts

Abstract. An intensive survey of bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila) on Martha's Vineyard, the largest offshore island in Massachusetts, USA, was conducted mostly from 2010–2011 at over 60 sites across the island's six towns. From over 14,500 specimens collected, processed and databased, we document 182 bee species in 31 genera. Historical records of an additional four species were identified from museum collections. Most bee specimens were collected from trap lines of bee bowls deployed to maximize coverage of habitats, and many others by direct collection targeting known host plants of pollen specialists (oligoleges) and their cleptoparasites. The island's fauna is more species-rich and includes a diverse assemblage of sand-nesting specialists (psammophiles) and pollen specialists with broader botanical associations than the recorded faunas of other regional islands. Notable finds include the first records of Anthophora walshii Cresson from the northeastern USA since the 1970s; two oligoleges of Mal...

USBombus, a database of contemporary survey data for North American Bumble Bees (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Bombus) distributed in the United States.

BackgroundBumble bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae, Bombus) are pollinators of wild and economically important flowering plants. However, at least four bumble bee species have declined significantly in population abundance and geographic range relative to historic estimates, and one species is possibly extinct. While a wealth of historic data is now available for many of the North American species found to be in decline in online databases, systematic survey data of stable species is still not publically available. The availability of contemporary survey data is critically important for the future monitoring of wild bumble bee populations. Without such data, the ability to ascertain the conservation status of bumble bees in the United States will remain challenging.New informationThis paper describes USBombus, a large database that represents the outcomes of one of the largest standardized surveys of bumble bee pollinators (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Bombus) globally. The motivation to collect live bumble bees across the United States was to examine the decline and conservation status of Bombus affinis, B. occidentalis, B. pensylvanicus, and B. terricola. Prior to our national survey of bumble bees in the United States from 2007 to 2010, there have only been regional accounts of bumble bee abundance and richness. In addition to surveying declining bumble bees, we also collected and documented a diversity of co-occuring bumble bees. However we have not yet completely reported their distribution and diversity onto a public online platform. Now, for the first time, we report the geographic distribution of bumble bees reported to be in decline (Cameron et al. 2011), as well as bumble bees that appeared to be stable on a large geographic scale in the United States (not in decline). In this database we report a total of 17,930 adult occurrence records across 397 locations and 39 species of Bombus detected in our national survey. We summarize their abundance and distribution across the United States and association to different ecoregions. The geospatial coverage of the dataset extends across 41 of the 50 US states, and from 0 to 3500 m a.s.l. Authors and respective field crews spent a total of 512 hours surveying bumble bees from 2007 to 2010. The dataset was developed using SQL server 2008 r2. For each specimen, the following information is generally provided: species, name, sex, caste, temporal and geospatial details, Cartesian coordinates, data collector(s), and when available, host plants. This database has already proven useful for a variety of studies on bumble bee ecology and conservation. However it is not publicly available. Considering the value of pollinators in agriculture and wild ecosystems, this large database of bumble bees will likely prove useful for investigations of the effects of anthropogenic activities on pollinator community composition and conservation status.

Late-Season Survey of Bumble Bees along Canadian Highways of British Columbia and Yukon Territories

Abstract. Bumble bees are important pollinators of flowering plants, foraging and providing pollination services throughout the growing season. They are adapted to cool temperatures and are among the most important of all pollinators at high elevations and northern latitudes. Over the past several decades, multiple species of bumble bees have experienced declines in both geographic range and abundance in Europe and North America, while 4 species of the genus Bombus (Bombus) have suffered dramatic declines in the United States. Such declines are not as evident in Alaska, and the status of Bombus remains relatively unknown in the adjacent territories of Canada. To begin addressing this knowledge gap, we sampled the bumble bee fauna foraging on floral patches along 5 highways of Canada and southeastern Alaska in a short-term, one-time survey during late summer 2010. We observed 14 species and found Bombus assemblages to be structured by broad geographic features and ecoregions. The Bombus species B. (B.) occ...

Reliability and refinement of the higher taxa approach for bee richness and composition assessments.

Limited resources and taxonomic expertise in biodiversity surveys often lead to the application of the higher taxa approach (HTA),i.e., the identification of specimens to genus or higher taxonomic levels rather than to species. The reliability of the HTA varies significantly among studies, yet the factors underlying this variability have rarely been investigated. Bees are an ideal model taxon for testing the HTA because they are highly diverse, challenging to identify, and there is widespread interest in their role as native pollinators, driving demand for efficient diversity assessment tools. Using extensive bee data sets collected across three biomes and various habitats, we assessed the performance of the HTA in reflecting bee species richness and composition patterns at local scales, factors affecting this performance, and ways to improve it. The performance of the HTA varied considerably among biomes, taxonomic levels (genera and subfamilies), and diversity measures (species richness and composition); genus and subfamily richness accounted for 55-77% and 32-61% of the variation in species richness, respectively; genus and subfamily composition accounted for 28-87% and 26-80% of the variation in species composition, respectively. The number of species per higher taxon was a main factor influencing this performance (accounting for 63% of the variation), while the co-occurrence of taxonomically related species had no significant influence on the performance of the HTA. Further subdividing genera by body size contributed to the performance of the HTA and increased its accuracy in representation of compositional patterns by ~16%. Our results have several practical implications. The considerable variability found in the performance of the HTA in representing local-scale richness and composition patterns of bee species dictates caution in implementing this tool in bee surveys. When possible, an a priori evaluation of the expected performance of the HTA should be done, focusing on species distributions within higher taxonomic levels and the species: higher taxa ratio. Integrating morphological characteristics (such as body size) that consistently subdivide genera will improve the HTA's performance. Our results are likely applicable to the implementation of the HTA in other small-bodied and species-rich groups and may contribute to the cost-effectiveness of biodiversity surveys.

The Influence of the Loss of Brazilian Savanna Vegetation on the Occurrence of Nests of Stingless Bees (Apidae: Meliponini)

The vegetation of the Cerrado, also known as the Brazilian savanna, is rapidly being replaced by agricultural and urban areas. The scope of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the reduction in savanna vegetation and the occurrence of nests of stingless bees (Apidae: Meliponini), particularly those of the genus Melipona . We mapped 33 surveys of stingless bees nests located in Cerrado areas on Landsat images and assessed the proportions of vegetated, urban and rural areas within a radius of 3 km from each nest. We performed two-step cluster analyses separately for common and rare Meliponini species and Melipona species and assessed the proportion of vegetation in the resulting clusters. Common species such as Trigona spinipes and Tetragonisca angustula were frequent in areas surrounded by vegetation as well as in degraded surround areas. Some species, such as Oxytrigona tataira, occurred predominantly in degraded areas. Most Melipona species were uncommon or absent in the degraded areas. It is possible that isolated trees in rural landscapes provide functional connectivity for opportunistic species of stingless bees but not for susceptible species such as species of Melipona . This study is one of the first to attempt to understand the effects of the loss of Cerrado vegetation on the occurrence of stingless bees’ nests.

Males of the orchid bee Eulaema cingulata (Hymenoptera: Apidae) as important vectors of the cleptoparasitic beetle Meloetyphlus fuscatus (Coleoptera: Meloidae)

Meloid beetles are known by their hypermetamorphic life cycle with active first instar larvae called triungulins found in most species. Most of the larvae in this family feed on provisions and immature stages of bees. The monotypic genus Meloetyphlus is associated with the nests of some orchid bee species, and some of its morphological characteristics suggest the adults live only in the host nest. In an orchid bee survey carried out in Ubatuba, São Paulo State, Brazil, 1575 specimens of 23 species of euglossine bees were collected. Of this total, 170 (10.8 %) specimens of six species, mostly males, had triungulin larvae of Meloetyphlus fuscatus attached to their bodies. The highest percentage of infestation was found in Eulaema cingulata, with 79.8 % of males carrying beetle larvae. The implications of these data are discussed, and the association of M. fuscatus with four species of orchid bees (Eufriesea dentilabris, Eulaema helvola, Eulaema seabrai and Exaerete smaragdina) is reported for the first time.

Assessing bee (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) diversity of an Illinois restored tallgrass prairie: methodology and conservation considerations

Bee species diversity and the effectiveness of four sampling methods were investigated in a west-central Illinois restored tallgrass prairie. Bees were sampled using malaise traps, ground-level pan traps, elevated pan traps, and vane traps. A total of 4,622 bees representing 31 genera and 111 species were collected. Malaise traps collected the greatest number of bees and species, and ground-level pan traps the least. Among the pan traps and vane traps, blue-colored traps collected the greatest abundance and species richness, and yellow traps the least. Chao1 estimator and rarefaction analyses showed that substantial increases in sample sizes would be necessary to achieve asymptotic species richness levels, particularly if ground-level pan traps alone were used. Elevated pan traps and vane traps collected relatively similar species composition. Different colored pan traps at the same height collected more similar species composition than did those at different heights, but species composition of blue ground-level pan traps was relatively similar to elevated pan traps, regardless of color. Indicator species analysis revealed 22 species that were significantly associated with a specific trap type, and 11 species that were associated with a particular pan trap color/elevation. Results of this study show that elevated traps can increase the effectiveness of bee surveys in tallgrass prairie, and that a combination of trap types gives a more complete picture of the bee fauna than does a single survey method. These results should be considered along with cost, ease of use, and goals when planning and designing bee inventories.

The bee community and its relationship to canola productivity in homogenous agricultural areas

Canola crop productivity is benefited by bee pollination and it has been shown that bee communities can be affected by landscape composition. The aim of this study was to analyse the bee community and its relationship to canola seed production in agricultural areas. The density, abundance and richness of floral visitors of Brassica napus cultivar Hyola 61 in six commercial fields in southern Brazil were studied, and their relationships with seed production and the ratio of semi-natural, forested and agricultural areas surrounding the crops were examined. It was observed that canola fields of southern Brazil are surrounded by a homogeneous landscape dominated by agricultural areas. The survey of bees detected a low abundance and richness of native bees in contrast to the high abundance of Apis mellifera. Except for a negative correlation between the abundance of honey bees and the proportion of forested areas within a 2000 m radius from the field (R = -0.90; P = 0.012), no other correlations were found among bee abundance and richness and landscape composition. Although there was not a relationship between A. mellifera and seed set, there was a positive correlation between insect density and seed weight per plant (R = 0.87; P = 0.024). As honey bees were the most captured insect (79%), much of the pollination in this system was probably achieved by honey bees.

Bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) and flowers in natural forest patches of southern Pantanal

This is the first systematic survey of bees in the Pantanal wetland, Brazil. We recorded bee species and their floral resources within grassland and natural forest edge habitats in the Pantanal. Surveys were conducted during two to four-days per month, for a total of 12 months. Overall, we recorded 56 bee species visiting a total of 63 flowering plants. Asteraceae and Fabaceae presented the highest number of visited species, however Hyptis suaveolens (Lamiaceae) was the plant most visited by different bee species (18). The most generalist native bee was Trigona fuscipennis visiting a total of 17 flowering plant species. Apis mellifera, an exotic bee, visited 27 species. We also report the overlap (37.5%) in the use of floral resources between the exotic bee Apis mellifera and native bee species. Our updated bee checklist here presented includes 10 new records for the State of Mato Grosso do Sul. These data will support management strategies targeting the conservation of plant-pollinator interactions in the Pantanal ecosystem.

Conservation value and permeability of neotropical oil palm landscapes for orchid bees.

The proliferation of oil palm plantations has led to dramatic changes in tropical landscapes across the globe. However, relatively little is known about the effects of oil palm expansion on biodiversity, especially in key ecosystem-service providing organisms like pollinators. Rapid land use change is exacerbated by limited knowledge of the mechanisms causing biodiversity decline in the tropics, particularly those involving landscape features. We examined these mechanisms by undertaking a survey of orchid bees, a well-known group of Neotropical pollinators, across forest and oil palm plantations in Costa Rica. We used chemical baits to survey the community in four regions: continuous forest sites, oil palm sites immediately adjacent to forest, oil palm sites 2km from forest, and oil palm sites greater than 5km from forest. We found that although orchid bees are present in all environments, orchid bee communities diverged across the gradient, and community richness, abundance, and similarity to forest declined as distance from forest increased. In addition, mean phylogenetic distance of the orchid bee community declined and was more clustered in oil palm. Community traits also differed with individuals in oil palm having shorter average tongue length and larger average geographic range size than those in the forest. Our results indicate two key features about Neotropical landscapes that contain oil palm: 1) oil palm is selectively permeable to orchid bees and 2) orchid bee communities in oil palm have distinct phylogenetic and trait structure compared to communities in forest. These results suggest that conservation and management efforts in oil palm-cultivating regions should focus on landscape features.

Patterns of parasite infection in bumble bees (Bombusspp.) ofNorthernVirginia

In recent decades, severalNorthAmerican bumble bee (Bombusspp.) species have undergone precipitous declines. It is suspected that a parasite or pathogen may be responsible, yet few studies have examined the extent of parasitism and the ecology of host–parasite relationships inU.S. bumble bee populations.A season‐long survey of bumble bees in seven grassland meadows of the northernShenandoahValley andPiedmont regions inVirginia was conducted in 2011 to ascertain the local prevalence and predictors of parasitism by the internal parasitesNosemaandCrithidia, and by parasitoid conopid flies.In total, 835 bumble bees representing six species were examined. Using visual detection methods, we determined that 25% of bees were infected with parasitoid larvae, 17.4% withCrithidia, and 7.3% withNosema.Nosemainfections were more prevalent and intense in locally rare than locally common species, with the two rarest bumble bees [B. fervidus(Fabricius) andB. auricomus(Robertson)], newly suspected to be in decline, having the highest frequencies of infection (11–17.8%).Crithidiawas generally more prevalent in common bumble bee species (11–35%). With fewer than 5% of individuals infected, the two rarest species had the lowest frequencies ofCrithidia. Conopid fly larvae were more prevalent in common species.Body size significantly influenced the probability of parasitism by conopids andCrithidia. Smaller bees were more likely to be parasitised byCrithidia. Larger bees were more likely to be parasitised by conopid flies, although the largest bee species (B. auricomus) was not infected by conopids in this study.

Relationships of Bees to Host Ornamental and Weedy Flowers in Urban Northwest Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica

Ecological studies on native bees in urban tropical environments are rare, however, ever-increasing urban areas world-wide necessitate study on how many of these bees can and have adjusted to human constructs. Predictable ecological patterns that emerge from these studies can provide guidance on how future urban constructs can be designed to provide habitat for conserving and protecting native bees. These patterns can also be used for bee habitat restoration in natural and agricultural environments. An extensive survey of native bees and honey bees and their relationships to a community of 102 plant types in urban residential environments of Bagaces and Liberia in northwestern Costa Rica was conducted from 2003–2012. Bees were attracted and recorded at measurable frequencies to 82 plant genera in 41 families, the most common of which was Fabaceae. Forty-two plant types were native ornamentals; 39 were non-natives; and 21 were native weed species. Standardized bee visitation (frequency) counts, 17,000 , were used to record relationships between bees and flowers. The following data were recorded for each plant type: flowering phenology in months, type of floral reward(s) (pollen, nectar, and/or oil), main daily attraction period, and most frequently visiting bee taxa. Plant life forms included trees, shrubs, lianas/vines, herbs, and palms. Each plant group had a different seasonal flowering phenology with native ornamentals and native weeds having patterns that closely resembled the general patterns for wild plants in the dry forest. Predictable associations of certain bee taxa with each plant type emerged from the count data, which allowed for categorizing relationships into four types: small bee, diverse bee, specialized bee, and nocturnal pollination systems. Intraspecific variations in bee attraction to several plant types were also noted. Honey bees (Africanized) did not figure prominently in most pollination relationships, especially with regard to native plants. Most native bee species were generalized foragers. Beyond the urban environment, it is suggested that knowledge of predictable bee-flower relationships can also be used to restore bee habitat in disturbed environments such as deforested areas. With some imagination and outreach education, bee habitats could also be installed for some agricultural crops. Outreaching information on native bee-flower relationships at local, regional, and state levels is important for short and long-term propagation of urban (and agricultural) plants. Yet, very few outlets for transferring this knowledge currently exist in Costa Rica. A few limited options for sharing this information are discussed, including collaborative partnerships with local NGOs.

A survey of bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) from Fars Province, Iran

A survey of bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) from Fars Province, Iran

Evolutionary history of nematodes associated with sweat bees

Organisms that live in close association with other organisms make up a large part of the world’s diversity. One driver of this diversity is the evolution of host-species specificity, which can occur via reproductive isolation following a host-switch or, given the correct circumstances, via cospeciation. In this study, we explored the diversity and evolutionary history of Acrostichus nematodes that are associated with halictid bees in North America. First, we conducted surveys of bees in Virginia, and found six halictid species that host Acrostichus. To test the hypothesis of cospeciation, we constructed phylogenetic hypotheses of Acrostichus based on three genes. We found Acrostichus puri and Acrostichus halicti to be species complexes comprising cryptic, host-specific species. Although several nodes in the host and symbiont phylogenies were congruent and tests for cospeciation were significant, the host’s biogeography, the apparent patchiness of the association across the host’s phylogeny, and the amount of evolution in the nematode sequence suggested a mixture of cospeciation, host switching, and extinction events instead of strict cospeciation. Cospeciation can explain the relationships between Ac. puri and its augochlorine hosts, but colonization of Halictus hosts is more likely than cospeciation. The nematodes are vertically transmitted, but sexual transmission is also likely. Both of these transmission modes may explain host-species specificity and congruent bee and nematode phylogenies. Additionally, all halictid hosts come from eusocial or socially polymorphic lineages, suggesting that sociality may be a factor in the suitability of hosts for Acrostichus.