Kierat J, Miler K, Celary W, Woyciechowski M
Institute of Environmental Sciences,Jagiellonian University in Kraków,Gronostajowa 7, 30-387 Kraków,Poland.
Department of Ecology and Environmental Conservation,Institute of Biology,Jan Kochanowski University,Świętokrzyska 15, 25-406 Kielce,Poland.
Bull Entomol Res. 2018 Feb;108(1):35-39. doi: 10.1017/S0007485317000475. Epub 2017 May 9.
There are several possible causes of aggregated nesting in solitary Aculeata, one being joint defense against parasites. We tested whether females prefer nesting in aggregations, even if they consist of heterospecifics. We compared the colonization and nesting parasitism of trap-nests with and without a red mason bee aggregation. The results did not support our hypothesis that females prefer nesting in aggregations. The numbers of wild Aculeata nests did not differ between trap-nests with and without an aggregation. Unexpectedly, parasitism rates were higher in trap-nests with aggregations. When analyzing only nests of wild insects (mostly wasps), the differences in parasitism disappeared. Natural nesting sites may be such a limited resource that females nested in the first trap-nest they encountered and did not discriminate between our treatments, or wasps might share too few parasites species with bees to benefit from joint nest defense.
独居膜翅目昆虫聚集筑巢有几种可能的原因，其中之一是对寄生虫的联合防御。我们测试了雌性是否更喜欢聚集筑巢，即使聚集群体中包含不同物种。我们比较了有和没有红切叶蜂聚集群体存在时诱捕巢的定殖情况和筑巢寄生情况。结果不支持我们关于雌性更喜欢聚集筑巢的假设。有聚集群体和没有聚集群体的诱捕巢中，野生膜翅目昆虫巢穴的数量没有差异。出乎意料的是，有聚集群体的诱捕巢中的寄生率更高。当仅分析野生昆虫（主要是黄蜂）的巢穴时，寄生情况的差异消失了。天然筑巢地点可能是一种非常有限的资源，以至于雌性会在它们遇到的第一个诱捕巢中筑巢，而不会区分我们的处理方式，或者黄蜂与蜜蜂共有的寄生虫种类太少，无法从联合巢穴防御中受益。
