↓ Skip to main content

Host choice in a bivoltine bee: how sensory constraints shape innate foraging behaviors

Overview of attention for article published in BMC Ecology and Evolution, April 2016
Altmetric Badge

Mentioned by

twitter
2 X users

Citations

dimensions_citation
11 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
55 Mendeley
You are seeing a free-to-access but limited selection of the activity Altmetric has collected about this research output. Click here to find out more.
Title
Host choice in a bivoltine bee: how sensory constraints shape innate foraging behaviors
Published in
BMC Ecology and Evolution, April 2016
DOI 10.1186/s12898-016-0074-z
Pubmed ID
Authors

Paulo Milet-Pinheiro, Kerstin Herz, Stefan Dötterl, Manfred Ayasse

Abstract

Many insects have multiple generations per year and cohorts emerging in different seasons may evolve their own phenotypes if they are subjected to different selection regimes. The bivoltine bee Andrena bicolor is reported to be polylectic and oligolectic (on Campanula) in the spring and summer generations, respectively. Neurological constraints are assumed to govern pollen diet in bees. However, evidence comes predominantly from studies with oligolectic bees. We have investigated how sensory constraints influence the innate foraging behavior of A. bicolor and have tested whether bees of different generations evolved behavioral and sensory polyphenism to cope better with the host flowers available in nature when they are active. Behavioral and sensory polyphenisms were tested in choice assays and electroantennographic analyses, respectively. In the bioassays, we found that females of both generations (1) displayed a similar innate relative reliance on visual and olfactory floral cues irrespective of the host plants tested; (2) did not prefer floral cues of Campanula to those of Taraxacum (or vice versa) and (3) did not display an innate preference for yellow and lilac colors. In the electroantennographic analyses, we found that bees of both generations responded to the same set of compounds. Overall, we did not detect seasonal polyphenism in any trait examined. The finding that bees of both generations are not sensory constrained to visit a specific host flower, which is in strict contrast to results from studies with oligolectic bees, suggest that also bees of the second generation have a flexibility in innate foraging behavior and that this is an adaptive trait in A. bicolor. We discuss the significance of our findings in context of the natural history of A. bicolor and in the broader context of host-range evolution in bees.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 2 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 55 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Brazil 1 2%
Unknown 54 98%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Researcher 13 24%
Student > Ph. D. Student 10 18%
Student > Master 10 18%
Professor > Associate Professor 5 9%
Student > Bachelor 3 5%
Other 3 5%
Unknown 11 20%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 22 40%
Environmental Science 10 18%
Medicine and Dentistry 3 5%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 2 4%
Immunology and Microbiology 1 2%
Other 3 5%
Unknown 14 25%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 13 September 2016.
All research outputs
#20,656,820
of 25,374,917 outputs
Outputs from BMC Ecology and Evolution
#3,267
of 3,714 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#235,807
of 316,337 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Ecology and Evolution
#68
of 78 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,374,917 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 10th percentile – i.e., 10% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 3,714 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 12.5. This one is in the 5th percentile – i.e., 5% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 316,337 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 13th percentile – i.e., 13% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 78 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 2nd percentile – i.e., 2% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.