Nest architecture and brood mortality in four species of sweat bee (Hymenoptera; Halictidae) from Cape Breton Island
The nest architecture of four species of the bee family Halictidae from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, was studied. Augochlorella striata and Lasioglossum (Evylaeus) comagenense constructed their brood cells in a cluster surrounded by a cavity. In the case of A. striata, the cavity-forming habit i...
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Canadian Science Publishing
1989
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z89-406 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z89-406 |
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crcansciencepubl:10.1139/z89-406 2024-09-15T18:00:24+00:00 Nest architecture and brood mortality in four species of sweat bee (Hymenoptera; Halictidae) from Cape Breton Island Packer, Laurence Sampson, Blair Lockerbie, Cathy Jessome, Vincent 1989 http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z89-406 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z89-406 en eng Canadian Science Publishing http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining Canadian Journal of Zoology volume 67, issue 12, page 2864-2870 ISSN 0008-4301 1480-3283 journal-article 1989 crcansciencepubl https://doi.org/10.1139/z89-406 2024-08-29T04:08:49Z The nest architecture of four species of the bee family Halictidae from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, was studied. Augochlorella striata and Lasioglossum (Evylaeus) comagenense constructed their brood cells in a cluster surrounded by a cavity. In the case of A. striata, the cavity-forming habit increased the rate at which the soil of the brood cell cluster dried out, relative to the surrounding soil. The year of the study was unusually dry and in midsummer the moisture content of the soil was extremely low. This weather pattern seemed to result in some mortality of A. striata brood due to dehydration, and prevented foundresses from constructing brood cells. The two other species, Lasioglossum (Evylaeus) cinctipes and Lasioglossum (Dialictus) laevissimum, did not construct brood cell clusters. All four species had shallower nests than other species with similar nest architectures for which published data are available. All species except L. laevissimum nested in association with stones at the ground surface. It was shown that brood cells of nests situated close to rocks and stones were likely to experience increased temperature, presumably resulting in a faster developmental rate for immatures. This may be important in the Cape Breton environment, which is clearly marginal for social sweat bees. Both A. striata and L. comagenense exhibited very low mortality rates in developing immatures (1 and 7%, respectively). Article in Journal/Newspaper Breton Island Canadian Science Publishing Canadian Journal of Zoology 67 12 2864 2870 |
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Canadian Science Publishing |
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crcansciencepubl |
language |
English |
description |
The nest architecture of four species of the bee family Halictidae from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, was studied. Augochlorella striata and Lasioglossum (Evylaeus) comagenense constructed their brood cells in a cluster surrounded by a cavity. In the case of A. striata, the cavity-forming habit increased the rate at which the soil of the brood cell cluster dried out, relative to the surrounding soil. The year of the study was unusually dry and in midsummer the moisture content of the soil was extremely low. This weather pattern seemed to result in some mortality of A. striata brood due to dehydration, and prevented foundresses from constructing brood cells. The two other species, Lasioglossum (Evylaeus) cinctipes and Lasioglossum (Dialictus) laevissimum, did not construct brood cell clusters. All four species had shallower nests than other species with similar nest architectures for which published data are available. All species except L. laevissimum nested in association with stones at the ground surface. It was shown that brood cells of nests situated close to rocks and stones were likely to experience increased temperature, presumably resulting in a faster developmental rate for immatures. This may be important in the Cape Breton environment, which is clearly marginal for social sweat bees. Both A. striata and L. comagenense exhibited very low mortality rates in developing immatures (1 and 7%, respectively). |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Packer, Laurence Sampson, Blair Lockerbie, Cathy Jessome, Vincent |
spellingShingle |
Packer, Laurence Sampson, Blair Lockerbie, Cathy Jessome, Vincent Nest architecture and brood mortality in four species of sweat bee (Hymenoptera; Halictidae) from Cape Breton Island |
author_facet |
Packer, Laurence Sampson, Blair Lockerbie, Cathy Jessome, Vincent |
author_sort |
Packer, Laurence |
title |
Nest architecture and brood mortality in four species of sweat bee (Hymenoptera; Halictidae) from Cape Breton Island |
title_short |
Nest architecture and brood mortality in four species of sweat bee (Hymenoptera; Halictidae) from Cape Breton Island |
title_full |
Nest architecture and brood mortality in four species of sweat bee (Hymenoptera; Halictidae) from Cape Breton Island |
title_fullStr |
Nest architecture and brood mortality in four species of sweat bee (Hymenoptera; Halictidae) from Cape Breton Island |
title_full_unstemmed |
Nest architecture and brood mortality in four species of sweat bee (Hymenoptera; Halictidae) from Cape Breton Island |
title_sort |
nest architecture and brood mortality in four species of sweat bee (hymenoptera; halictidae) from cape breton island |
publisher |
Canadian Science Publishing |
publishDate |
1989 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z89-406 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z89-406 |
genre |
Breton Island |
genre_facet |
Breton Island |
op_source |
Canadian Journal of Zoology volume 67, issue 12, page 2864-2870 ISSN 0008-4301 1480-3283 |
op_rights |
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/z89-406 |
container_title |
Canadian Journal of Zoology |
container_volume |
67 |
container_issue |
12 |
container_start_page |
2864 |
op_container_end_page |
2870 |
_version_ |
1810437571753279488 |