598 results — topic: Insect Ecology
Decomposing an elevational gradient in predation by insectivorous birds
Insectivorous birds have ecologically important effects on prey abundance, behavior, and evolution, and through top-down control birds indirectly reduce herbivory and promote plant growth. While several studies sought to characterize biogeographic patterns in top-down control by birds, variation in
Malaise_trap_ReadME.txt
Data set to accompany the paper " Extensive regional variation in the phenology of insects and their response to temperature across North America" published in Ecology (2023) See below for a full list of authors and addresses. Authors are also listed in the main data file, "Malaise_trap_Data_2019-20
Bee phenology is predicted by climatic variation and functional traits
Michael Stemkovski,1,2* Climate change is shifting the environmental cues that determine the phenology of interacting spe- William D. Pearse,1,3 cies. Plant–pollinator systems may be susceptible to temporal mismatch if bees and flowering Sean R. Griffin,2,4 plants differ in their phenological response
Advanced phenology of intraguild predators shifts herbivore host plant preference and performance
1. The abundance of insect herbivores is mediated by interactions with higher and lower trophic levels. This research asks (i) how phenological change across trophic levels affects host plant quality and selection for aphids, and (ii) what higher trophic level mechanisms drive aphid abundance. 2. Li
Competition for nectar resources does not affect bee foraging tactic constancy
1. Competition alters animal foraging, including promoting the use of alternative resources. It may also impact how animals feed when they are able to handle the same food with more than one tactic. Competition likely impacts both consumers and their resources through its effects on food handling, b
Bumble bees are constant to nectar-robbing behaviour despite low switching costs
Individuals sometimes exhibit striking constancy to a single behaviour even when they are capable of short-term behavioural flexibility. Constancy enables animals to avoid costs such as memory constraints, but can also inflict significant opportunity costs through behaviour–environment mismatch. It
Insect herbivory reshapes a native leaf microbiome
Insect herbivory is pervasive in plant communities, but its impact on microbial plant colonizers is not well-studied in natural systems. By calibrating sequencing-based bacterial detection to absolute bacterial load, we find that the within-host abundance of most leaf microbiome (phyllosphere) taxa
How vulnerable are pollen-specialist solitary bees to temperature-mediated shifts in the timing of food availability?
Rising temperatures are advancing the seasonal timing of flowering and pollinator activity in
Effects of weather and floral density on foraging activity of cavity nesting bees (<i> Osmia </i>spp.)
Thermoregulation is an important factor for bee flight which ultimately contributes to an individual’s ability to forage and produce offspring. Rising temperatures could benefit insects by increasing their efficiency in reproduction and provisioning. However, warming could negatively impact floral r
Quantifying Nectar Resources in Bumble Bee Visited Plants
Native bumble bees play key roles in their ecosystems as pollinators, but little is known about the quantity and quality of floral resources on which they depend in natural areas across a season. Additionally, how those resources might be affected by abiotic factors, many of which are being altered
Low to Mid Elevational Resurvey of Bumble bee Distributions in Response to Climate Change
In 1974, Graham Pyke conducted a study that examined Bombus spp. distributions along five transects around the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory area in Crested Butte, CO. The study was repeated in 2007 and within the intervening 33-year period, it showed that certain species of bumble bees had s
The effect of 10 years of repeat lethal sampling on wild bee abundance
Insect pollinators serve vital roles in natural and agricultural systems. There is a lack of long-term data on wild bee populations in North America, so standardized sampling protocols have been developed to address this need. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of 10 years of long
Pre- and post-ingestive defenses affect larval feeding on a lethal invasive host plant
Abstract Evolutionary traps arise when organisms use novel, low‐quality or even lethal resources based on previously reliable cues. Persistence of such maladaptive interactions depends not only on how individuals locate important resources, such as host plants, but also the mechanisms underlying poo
No evidence that gut microbiota impose a net cost on their butterfly host
Gut microbes are believed to play a critical role in most animal life, yet fitness effects and cost-benefit trade-offs incurred by the host are poorly understood. Unlike most hosts studied to date, butterflies largely acquire their nutrients from larval feeding, leaving relatively little opportunity
Elevated temperatures alter an ant aphid mutualism
Two-year bee or not two-year bee? How voltinism is affected by temperature and season length in a high-elevation solitary bee
Organisms must often make developmental decisions without complete information about future conditions. This uncertainty-for example, about the duration of conditions favorable for growth-can favor bet-hedging strategies. Here, we investigated the causes of life cycle variation in Osmia iridis, a be
Examining the impact of pollen diet composition on bee development and lifespan
Pollen is the sole protein source for most bees and the largest component of their larval diets.
The effect of surrounding bloom color on pan trap success in sampling Rocky Mountain bees
On a global scale, bees are important pollinators but face declining populations. In order to monitor the health of bee populations and communities, accurate sampling methods are needed. One common sampling protocol utilizes a combination of pan-trapping and sweep netting. While pan- trapping has it
Evaluating Critical Thermal Tolerances of Solitary Bees
Climate change is predicted to impact pollinators through both direct and indirect mechanisms: by altering physiological stress through warming temperatures and by changing species interactions through the altered phenology and abundance of food sources and competitors. While research has been done
