There is growing concern that some bee populations are in decline, potentially threatening pollination security agricultural and non-agricultural landscapes. Among the numerous causes associated with this trend, nutritional stress resulting from a mismatch between needs plant community provisioning has been suggested as one potential driver. To ease on habitats, agri-environmental protection schemes aim to provide alternative resources for during times of need. However, such efforts have...

Historically, bee regulatory risk assessment for pesticides has centred on the European honeybee (Apis mellifera), primarily due to its availability and adaptability laboratory conditions. Recently, there have been efforts develop a battery of toxicity tests range non-Apis species directly assess them. However, it is not clear whether substantial investment associated with development implementation such routine screening will actually improve level protection bees. We argue, using published...

In many countries, the western honey bee is used as surrogate in pesticide risk assessments for bees. However, uncertainty remains estimation of to non-Apis bees because their potential routes exposure pesticides, life histories, and ecologies differ from those We applied vulnerability concept assessment 10 species including bee, 2 bumble species, 7 solitary with different nesting strategies. Trait-based considers evaluation a at level both organism (exposure effect) population (recovery),...

Division of labor is a defining characteristic social insects and fundamental to their ecological success. Many the numerous tasks essential for survival colony must be performed at specific location. Consequently, spatial organization an integral aspect division labor. The mechanisms organizing distribution workers, separating inside outside workers without central control, essential, but so far neglected In this study, we investigate behavioral governing individual its physiological...

The ubiquitous trade-off between survival and costly reproduction is one of the most fundamental constraints governing life-history evolution. In numerous animals, gonadotropic hormones antagonistically suppressing immunocompetence cause this trade-off. queens many social insects defy reproduction–survival trade-off, achieving both an extraordinarily long life high reproductive output, but how they achieve unknown. Here we show experimentally, by integrating quantification gene expression,...

Slave-making ants reduce the fitness of surrounding host colonies through regular raids, causing loss brood and frequently queen worker death. Consequently, hosts developed defenses against slave raids such as specific recognition aggression toward social parasites, indeed, we show that react more aggressively slavemakers than nonparasitic competitors. Permanent behavioral can be costly, if parasite impact varies in time space, inducible defenses, which are only expressed after slavemaker...

Animals are often threatened by predators, parasites, or competitors, and attacks against these enemies a common response, which can help to remove the danger. The costs of defense complex involve risk injury, loss energy/time, erroneous identification friend as foe. Our goal was study specificity strategies. We analyzed aggressive responses ant colonies confronting them with workers an unfamiliar congeneric species, non-nestmate conspecific, co-occurring competitor social parasite—a...

Bumblebees are constantly exposed to a wide range of biotic and abiotic stresses which they must defend themselves against survive. Pathogens pesticides represent important stressors that influence bumblebee health, both when acting alone or in combination. To better understand we need investigate how these factors interact, yet experimental studies date generally focus on only one two stressors. The aim this study is evaluate combined effects four (the gut parasite Nosema ceranae, the...

Abstract There is growing concern that declines in some managed and wild bee pollinator populations threaten biodiversity, the functioning of vital ecological processes sustainable food production on a global scale. In recent years, there has been increasing evidence sublethal exposure to neurotoxic class insecticides (neonicotinoids) can undermine immunocompetence amplify effects diseases, which have suspected be one drivers declines. However, exactly how neonicotinoids might inhibit...

Plant protection products, including insecticides, are important for global food production but can have adverse effects on nontarget organisms bees. Historically, research investigating such has focused mainly the honeybee (Apis mellifera), whereas less information is available non-Apis Consequently, a comprehensive hazard (sensitivity) assessment majority of bees lacking, which in turn hinders accurate risk characterization and consequently bee protection. Interspecies sensitivity...

To ease nutritional stress on managed as well native bee populations in agricultural habitats, agro-environmental protection schemes aim to provide alternative resources for during times of need. However, such efforts have so far focused quantity (supply flowering plants) and timing (flower-scarce periods) while ignoring the quality two main relevant flower-derived (pollen nectar). As a first step address this issue we compiled one geographically explicit dataset focusing pollen crude...

Many animals use reliable indicators of upcoming events such as antagonistic interactions to prepare themselves. In group-living animals, not only the cue perceiving individuals are involved in mobilization, but entire group can this information. study, we analyze whether social insects, which perceive information on an parasite attack, knowledge better defend their colony. We focus interaction between ant Temnothorax longispinosus and slave-making Protomognathus americanus , conducts...

Environmental risk assessment traditionally relies on a wide range of in vivo testing to assess the potential hazards chemicals environment. These tests are often time-consuming and costly can cause test organisms' suffering. Recent developments reliable low-cost alternatives, both vivo- silico-based, opened door reconsider current toxicity assessment. However, many these new approach methodologies (NAMs) rely high-quality annotated genomes for surrogate species regulatory Currently, lack...

Reciprocal selection pressures in host–parasite systems drive coevolutionary arms races that lead to advanced adaptations both opponents. In the interactions between social parasites and their hosts, aggression is one of major behavioural traits under selection. a field manipulation, we aimed disentangle impact slavemaking ants nest density on Temnothorax longispinosus ants. An early slavemaker mating flight provided us with unique opportunity study influence host demography founding...

There is growing concern that some bee populations are in decline potentially threatening pollination security agricultural and non-agricultural landscapes. Among the numerous causes associated with this trend nutritional stress, resulting from a mismatch between needs plant community provisioning, has been suggested as one potential driver. To ease stress on habitats, agri-environmental protection schemes aim to provide alternative resources for during times of need. However, such efforts...

Abstract The evolution of parasite virulence and host defences is affected by population structure. This effect has been confirmed in studies focusing on large spatial scales, whereas the importance local structure not well understood. Slavemaking ants are social parasites that exploit workers another species to rear their offspring. Enslaved Temnothorax longispinosus have found exhibit an effective post‐enslavement defence behaviour: enslaved were observed killing a proportion parasites’ As...

The flexibility of organisms to respond plastically their environment is fundamental fitness and evolutionary success. Social insects provide some the most impressive examples plasticity, with individuals exhibiting behavioral sometimes morphological adaptations for specific roles in colony, such as large soldiers nest defense. However, exception honey bee model organism, there has been little investigation nature effects environmental stimuli thought instigate alternative phenotypes social...

Unequal reproductive output among members of the same sex (reproductive skew) is a common phenomenon in wide range communally breeding animals. In such species, dominance often acquired during antagonistic interactions between group that establish hierarchy which only few individuals reproduce. Rank-specific syndromes behavioural and physiological traits characterize hierarchies, but how translate into stable rank-specific remains poorly understood. The pleiotropic nature hormones makes them...

Social insects have evolved enormous capacities to collectively build nests and defend their colonies against both predators pathogens. The latter is achieved by a combination of individual immune responses sophisticated collective behavioral organizational disease defenses, that is, social immunity. We investigated how the presence or absence these defense lines affects individual-level immunity in ant queens after bacterial infection. To this end, we injected Linepithema humile with mix...

A new species of the ant genus Temnothorax Forel, 1890 – pilagens sp. n. is described from eastern North America. T. an obligate slave-making with two known hosts: longispinosus (Roger, 1863) and ambiguus (Emery, 1895). differential diagnosis against duloticus (Wesson, 1937), other dulotic congener Nearctic, presented a biological characteristics given.