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Nesting, Sex Ratio and Natural Enemies of the Giant Resin Bee in Relation to Native Species in Europe

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Alien bee species could have detrimental effects; in particular, they may compete with native bee species for floral resources or nesting sites. Here, we first studied the interaction in artificial trap nests, installed in a semi-urban area of north-western Italy, between the first e...

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Autores principales: Díaz, Sara Straffon, Carisio, Luca, Manino, Aulo, Biella, Paolo, Porporato, Marco
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8230627/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34208066
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects12060545
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author Díaz, Sara Straffon
Carisio, Luca
Manino, Aulo
Biella, Paolo
Porporato, Marco
author_facet Díaz, Sara Straffon
Carisio, Luca
Manino, Aulo
Biella, Paolo
Porporato, Marco
author_sort Díaz, Sara Straffon
collection PubMed
description SIMPLE SUMMARY: Alien bee species could have detrimental effects; in particular, they may compete with native bee species for floral resources or nesting sites. Here, we first studied the interaction in artificial trap nests, installed in a semi-urban area of north-western Italy, between the first exotic bee in Europe, Megachile sculpturalis, and native wild bees. Second, we evaluated the performance of the exotic bee by means of the sex ratio, and we screened for the presence of natural enemies affecting its brood. Our results showed that M. sculpturalis brood cells cohabited tunnels with the native Osmia cornuta. Given the exotic cells’ position within tunnels and their resin-based material, exotic cells may act as a block for native bee emergence. Moreover, our study revealed a strong male-biased sex ratio, suggesting a suboptimal reproductive trend for the M. sculpturalis local population. Additionally, we documented for the first time the presence of three natural enemies on the brood of the exotic bee that are common on native co-nesting bees. These novel findings broaden the knowledge on solitary bee invasions. ABSTRACT: Megachile sculpturalis (Smith, 1853) is the first exotic bee species in Europe. Its remarkably fast expansion across this continent is leading to a growing concern on the extent of negative impacts to the native fauna. To evaluate the interactions of exotic bees with local wild bees, we set up trap nests for above-ground nesting bees on a semi-urban area of north-western Italy. We aimed to investigate the interaction in artificial traps between the exotic and native wild bees and to assess offspring traits accounting for exotic bee fitness: progeny sex ratio and incidence of natural enemies. We found that the tunnels occupied by exotic bees were already cohabited by O. cornuta, and thus the cells of later nesting alien bees may block the native bee emergence for the next year. The progeny sex ratio of M. sculpturalis was strongly unbalanced toward males, indicating a temporary adverse population trend in the local invaded area. In addition, we documented the presence of three native natural enemies affecting the brood of the exotic bee. Our results bring out new insights on how the M. sculpturalis indirectly competes with native species and on its performance in new locations.
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spelling pubmed-82306272021-06-26 Nesting, Sex Ratio and Natural Enemies of the Giant Resin Bee in Relation to Native Species in Europe Díaz, Sara Straffon Carisio, Luca Manino, Aulo Biella, Paolo Porporato, Marco Insects Communication SIMPLE SUMMARY: Alien bee species could have detrimental effects; in particular, they may compete with native bee species for floral resources or nesting sites. Here, we first studied the interaction in artificial trap nests, installed in a semi-urban area of north-western Italy, between the first exotic bee in Europe, Megachile sculpturalis, and native wild bees. Second, we evaluated the performance of the exotic bee by means of the sex ratio, and we screened for the presence of natural enemies affecting its brood. Our results showed that M. sculpturalis brood cells cohabited tunnels with the native Osmia cornuta. Given the exotic cells’ position within tunnels and their resin-based material, exotic cells may act as a block for native bee emergence. Moreover, our study revealed a strong male-biased sex ratio, suggesting a suboptimal reproductive trend for the M. sculpturalis local population. Additionally, we documented for the first time the presence of three natural enemies on the brood of the exotic bee that are common on native co-nesting bees. These novel findings broaden the knowledge on solitary bee invasions. ABSTRACT: Megachile sculpturalis (Smith, 1853) is the first exotic bee species in Europe. Its remarkably fast expansion across this continent is leading to a growing concern on the extent of negative impacts to the native fauna. To evaluate the interactions of exotic bees with local wild bees, we set up trap nests for above-ground nesting bees on a semi-urban area of north-western Italy. We aimed to investigate the interaction in artificial traps between the exotic and native wild bees and to assess offspring traits accounting for exotic bee fitness: progeny sex ratio and incidence of natural enemies. We found that the tunnels occupied by exotic bees were already cohabited by O. cornuta, and thus the cells of later nesting alien bees may block the native bee emergence for the next year. The progeny sex ratio of M. sculpturalis was strongly unbalanced toward males, indicating a temporary adverse population trend in the local invaded area. In addition, we documented the presence of three native natural enemies affecting the brood of the exotic bee. Our results bring out new insights on how the M. sculpturalis indirectly competes with native species and on its performance in new locations. MDPI 2021-06-11 /pmc/articles/PMC8230627/ /pubmed/34208066 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects12060545 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Communication
Díaz, Sara Straffon
Carisio, Luca
Manino, Aulo
Biella, Paolo
Porporato, Marco
Nesting, Sex Ratio and Natural Enemies of the Giant Resin Bee in Relation to Native Species in Europe
title Nesting, Sex Ratio and Natural Enemies of the Giant Resin Bee in Relation to Native Species in Europe
title_full Nesting, Sex Ratio and Natural Enemies of the Giant Resin Bee in Relation to Native Species in Europe
title_fullStr Nesting, Sex Ratio and Natural Enemies of the Giant Resin Bee in Relation to Native Species in Europe
title_full_unstemmed Nesting, Sex Ratio and Natural Enemies of the Giant Resin Bee in Relation to Native Species in Europe
title_short Nesting, Sex Ratio and Natural Enemies of the Giant Resin Bee in Relation to Native Species in Europe
title_sort nesting, sex ratio and natural enemies of the giant resin bee in relation to native species in europe
topic Communication
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8230627/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34208066
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects12060545
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