[Pollinator] Fw: CANPOLIN News Release: “Thieving" Bees Serve as Window to Health of Bee Communities

Fri Mar 1 13:54:01 PST 2013

<html><head><style type='text/css'>p { margin: 0; }</style></head><body><div style='font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000'><style>p { margin: 0; }</style><div style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000"><b style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 15pt; line-height: 115%; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">“Thieving" Bees Serve
as Window to Health of Bee Communities</span></b><div><span style="font-size: 20px; line-height: 23px;"><b><br></b></span><div style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">

Summary:&nbsp; A recent study by researchers with
the Canadian Pollination Initiative (NSERC-CANPOLIN) offers a new perspective
on how to judge the health of bee communities. The authors suggest that
cleptoparasitic bees may be valuable indicators of the health of the broader
bee community.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;background:white;mso-background-themecolor:
background1">(March 1, 2013) – Guelph, ON</p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">Bees
that hijack the nests of other bee species could be used to measure the health
of the wider bee community, says a new study by researchers with the Canadian
Pollination Initiative (NSERC-CANPOLIN).</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><br></p>

To
assess biodiversity, ecologists traditionally rely on the number of species and
abundance of individuals. But when it comes to bees, interpreting the results is
not always simple. “This is because bees have such a wide range of lifestyles
that numbers alone don’t always tell the whole story,” says Cory Sheffield, research
scientist and curator of invertebrate zoology at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum
and lead author of the study.

According
to Sheffield, cleptoparasitic bees may offer a better way to assess bee
diversity.&nbsp; Also known as “cuckoo bees”,
cleptoparasitic bees don’t collect pollen to feed their young like other bees.
Instead, a female cuckoo bee lays her eggs in the nest of another bee species.
The larvae hatch and consume the pollen provisions that were meant for the host
species’ offspring – and even consume the host larva itself. &nbsp;Different species of cuckoo bees target
different groups of host species.

“Cleptoparasites
are like the ‘top predators’ of a community – they are completely dependent on
the presence of their host species. If something is affecting one or more of
the host species, this will quickly be reflected in the composition of cuckoo
species,” explains Sheffield.

To
test their theory, Sheffield and his colleagues re-examined data from an
earlier study looking at bee diversity in agricultural fields with different
levels of disturbance. When the team focused only on the cleptoparasitic
species, they found a much more consistent relationship between bee diversity
and habitat disturbance compared to using diversity data for all the bee
species present. Employing cleptoparasites as a proxy was particularly useful when
it came to fields with intermediate levels of disturbance. Previous analyses for
these sites gave inconsistent results that varied depending on which type of
diversity measurement was used.

Sheffield
recommends that cuckoo bee diversity and relative abundance become a standard
part of all assessments of bee community health.&nbsp; “We know that human activities are having a
strong impact on biodiversity and ecological services such as pollination. Having
accurate and consistent tools to measure diversity is essential to
understanding changes in bee communities and developing effective conservation
strategies.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><img src="cid:DWT1097"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%">A female
cuckoo bee in the genus <i>Nomada</i> searching
for a host nest.&nbsp; Because they don’t
collect pollen, cuckoo bees are usually quite hairless compared to other bees <i>(photo by Patrick Coin at </i></span><a href="http://bugguide.net/node/view/269215" target="_blank"><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%">bugguide.net</span></i></a><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:
115%">)&nbsp;</span></i></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">###</p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">&nbsp;</p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Th</span><span style="font-size:
10.0pt;line-height:115%">e study is contribution #68 to the Canadian
Pollination Initiative (NSERC-CANPOLIN).</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">&nbsp;</p>

Sheffield, CS, A Pindar, L Packer and PG Kevan. 2013. The potential
of cleptoparasitic bees as indicator taxa for assessing bee communities. Apidologie (published online: <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs13592-013-0200-2" target="_blank">DOI
10.1007/s13592-013-0200-2</a>)

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:
justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">&nbsp;</p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:
justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.0pt;
line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Verdana&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;mso-ansi-language:EN-US">&nbsp;</span></i></b></p><hr><br><br><br><span></span><div><div><div><font face="garamond, new york, times, serif"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" color="#000099" size="2">Sarah Bates, PhD<br>Network Manager, NSERC-CANPOLIN<br>School of Environmental Sciences - Bovey<br>University of Guelph, 50 Stone Rd East, Guelph, ON &nbsp; N1G 2W1<br>tel: (519)824-4120 X58022 &nbsp; &nbsp;fax: (519)837-0442</font><br></font><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><a href="http://www.uoguelph.ca/canpolin" target="_blank">www.uoguelph.ca/canpolin</a></font><br></div></div></div><span></span><br><br></div><style>p { margin: 0; }</style></div></div></div></body></html>

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

-----Original Message-----
From: Sarah Bates <sbates at UOGUELPH.CA>
Sender: General News - Canadian Pollination Initiative <CPI-GENERAL at LISTSERV.UOGUELPH.CA>
Date:         Fri, 1 Mar 2013 16:28:49 
To: <CPI-GENERAL at LISTSERV.UOGUELPH.CA>
Reply-To: Sarah Bates <sbates at UOGUELPH.CA>
Subject: CANPOLIN News Release:  “Thieving" Bees Serve as Window to Health of Bee Communities

“Thieving" Bees Serve as Window to Health of Bee Communities 

Summary: A recent study by researchers with the Canadian Pollination Initiative (NSERC-CANPOLIN) offers a new perspective on how to judge the health of bee communities. The authors suggest that cleptoparasitic bees may be valuable indicators of the health of the broader bee community. 

(March 1, 2013) – Guelph, ON 

Bees that hijack the nests of other bee species could be used to measure the health of the wider bee community, says a new study by researchers with the Canadian Pollination Initiative (NSERC-CANPOLIN). 

To assess biodiversity, ecologists traditionally rely on the number of species and abundance of individuals. But when it comes to bees, interpreting the results is not always simple. “This is because bees have such a wide range of lifestyles that numbers alone don’t always tell the whole story,” says Cory Sheffield, research scientist and curator of invertebrate zoology at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum and lead author of the study. 

According to Sheffield, cleptoparasitic bees may offer a better way to assess bee diversity. Also known as “cuckoo bees”, cleptoparasitic bees don’t collect pollen to feed their young like other bees. Instead, a female cuckoo bee lays her eggs in the nest of another bee species. The larvae hatch and consume the pollen provisions that were meant for the host species’ offspring – and even consume the host larva itself. Different species of cuckoo bees target different groups of host species. 

“Cleptoparasites are like the ‘top predators’ of a community – they are completely dependent on the presence of their host species. If something is affecting one or more of the host species, this will quickly be reflected in the composition of cuckoo species,” explains Sheffield. 

To test their theory, Sheffield and his colleagues re-examined data from an earlier study looking at bee diversity in agricultural fields with different levels of disturbance. When the team focused only on the cleptoparasitic species, they found a much more consistent relationship between bee diversity and habitat disturbance compared to using diversity data for all the bee species present. Employing cleptoparasites as a proxy was particularly useful when it came to fields with intermediate levels of disturbance. Previous analyses for these sites gave inconsistent results that varied depending on which type of diversity measurement was used. 

Sheffield recommends that cuckoo bee diversity and relative abundance become a standard part of all assessments of bee community health. “We know that human activities are having a strong impact on biodiversity and ecological services such as pollination. Having accurate and consistent tools to measure diversity is essential to understanding changes in bee communities and developing effective conservation strategies.” 

A female cuckoo bee in the genus Nomada searching for a host nest. Because they don’t collect pollen, cuckoo bees are usually quite hairless compared to other bees (photo by Patrick Coin at bugguide.net ) 

### 

Th e study is contribution #68 to the Canadian Pollination Initiative (NSERC-CANPOLIN). 

Sheffield, CS, A Pindar, L Packer and PG Kevan. 2013 . The potential of cleptoparasitic bees as indicator taxa for assessing bee communities. Apidologie (published online: DOI 10.1007/s13592-013-0200-2 ) 

Sarah Bates, PhD 
Network Manager, NSERC-CANPOLIN 
School of Environmental Sciences - Bovey 
University of Guelph, 50 Stone Rd East, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1 
tel: (519)824-4120 X58022 fax: (519)837-0442 
www.uoguelph.ca/canpolin 

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