Department of Biological Sciences, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND, USA.
U.S. Department of Agriculture/Agricultural Research Center, Insect Genetics and Biochemistry Edward T. Schafer Research Center, Fargo, ND, USA.
J Econ Entomol. 2024 Feb 12;117(1):127-135. doi: 10.1093/jee/toad207.
Body size influences performance in many bee species and may be influenced by nesting cavity diameter in cavity-nesting bees. Megachile rotundata (Fabricius) (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) is a commercially-managed, solitary cavity-nesting bee. In M. rotundata body size has low heritability and is strongly influenced by the size of the larval provision and the diameter of the nesting cavity. Commercial nesting boxes have cavities that are 7 mm in diameter. Our goal was to examine the effects that nesting cavity diameter has on M. rotundata body size and performance by manipulating the size of cavities that are available for nesting. We provided bees with nesting cavities that ranged in size from 4 to 9 millimeters in 1 mm increments. To assess body size we measured mass and intertegular span. To assess performance we measured wing area, wing loading, sex, overwintering survival, pollen ball occurrence, and diapause status in the offspring. We also examined the reproductive output from the different nest cavity diameters. We found that the 8 mm cavities reared bees with the largest mass, and 4 mm cavities reared bees with the smallest mass. We determined that the 7 mm nesting cavity is optimal for offspring yield, the 8 mm nesting cavity is optimal for performance, and the 5 mm nesting cavity may be optimal for conservation efforts of other cavity-nesting bees. Based on the desired outcome of the bee managers, nest sizes differing from the standard may provide an advantage.
体型大小会影响许多蜜蜂物种的表现，而体型大小可能会受到巢腔直径的影响，对于在巢腔中筑巢的蜜蜂来说尤其如此。圆叶切叶蜂（Megachile rotundata）（膜翅目：切叶蜂科）是一种商业管理的独居型巢腔蜜蜂。在圆叶切叶蜂中，体型大小的遗传力较低，强烈受到幼虫饲料大小和巢腔直径的影响。商业用巢箱的巢腔直径为 7 毫米。我们的目标是通过操纵可用于筑巢的巢腔大小，来研究巢腔直径对圆叶切叶蜂体型大小和性能的影响。我们为蜜蜂提供了尺寸从 4 毫米到 9 毫米不等的巢腔，每隔 1 毫米一个梯度。为了评估体型大小，我们测量了质量和体节间跨度。为了评估性能，我们测量了翅膀面积、翅膀负荷、性别、越冬存活率、花粉球出现情况以及后代的滞育状态。我们还检查了不同巢腔直径下的繁殖产量。我们发现，8 毫米的巢腔培养出的蜜蜂质量最大，而 4 毫米的巢腔培养出的蜜蜂质量最小。我们确定 7 毫米的巢腔最有利于后代产量，8 毫米的巢腔最有利于性能，而 5 毫米的巢腔可能最有利于其他巢腔蜜蜂的保护工作。根据蜜蜂管理者的期望结果，巢腔大小与标准不同可能会提供优势。
