Do Queens of Bumblebee Species Differ In Their Choice Of Flower Colour Morphs Of Corydalis Cava (Fumariaceae)?

International audienceAbstractBumblebee queens require a continuous supply of flowering food plants from early spring for the successful development of annual colonies. Early in spring, Corydalis cava provides essential nectar and pollen resources and a choice of flower colour. In this paper, we examine flower colour choice (purple or white) in C. cava and verify the hypothesis that bumblebee queens differ in their choice of flower colour. A total of 10,615 observations of flower visits were made in spring 2011 and spring 2014 near Poznań, western Poland. Our results suggest that Bombus lucorum/cryptarum used purple flowers less, while Bombus terrestris used purple flowers more and Bombus hortorum showed no preference. Therefore, the colour morphs of C. cava are probably co-evolutionary adaptations to the development of another part of the insect community which has different colour preferences

Biogeographical Survey Identifies Consistent Alternative Physiological Optima and a Minor Role for Environmental Drivers in Maintaining a Polymorphism

The contribution of adaptive mechanisms in maintaining genetic polymorphisms is still debated in many systems. To understand the contribution of selective factors in maintaining polymorphism, we investigated large-scale (>1000 km) geographic variation in morph frequencies and fitness-related physiological traits in the damselfly Nehalennia irene. As fitness-related physiological traits, we investigated investment in immune function (phenoloxidase activity), energy storage and fecundity (abdomen protein and lipid content), and flight muscles (thorax protein content). In the first part of the study, our aim was to identify selective agents maintaining the large-scale spatial variation in morph frequencies. Morph frequencies varied considerably among populations, but, in contrast to expectation, in a geographically unstructured way. Furthermore, frequencies co-varied only weakly with the numerous investigated ecological parameters. This suggests that spatial frequency patterns are driven by stochastic processes, or alternatively, are consequence of highly variable and currently unidentified ecological conditions. In line with this, the investigated ecological parameters did not affect the fitness-related physiological traits differently in both morphs. In the second part of the study, we aimed at identifying trade-offs between fitness-related physiological traits that may contribute to the local maintenance of both colour morphs by defining alternative phenotypic optima, and test the spatial consistency of such trade-off patterns. The female morph with higher levels of phenoloxidase activity had a lower thorax protein content, and vice versa, suggesting a trade-off between investments in immune function and in flight muscles. This physiological trade-off was consistent across the geographical scale studied and supports widespread correlational selection, possibly driven by male harassment, favouring alternative trait combinations in both female morphs

A geographic cline induced by negative frequency-dependent selection

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Establishment of geographic morph frequency clines is difficult to explain in organisms with limited gene flow. Balancing selection, such as negative frequency-dependent selection (NFDS), is instead suggested to establish a morph frequency cline on a geographic scale at least theoretically. Here we tested whether a large-scale smooth cline in morph frequency is established by NFDS in the female-dimorphic damselfly, <it>Ischnura senegalensis</it>, where andromorphs and gynomorphs are maintained by NFDS.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found a large-scale latitudinal cline in the morph frequency: andromorph frequency ranged from 0.05 (South) to 0.79 (North). Based on the empirical data on the numbers of eggs, the number of ovariole, abdomen length and latitude, the potential fitness of andromorphs was estimated to be lower than that of gynomorphs in the south, and higher in the north, suggesting the gene-by-environment interaction. From the morph-specific latitudinal cline in potential fitness, the frequency of andromorphs was expected to shift from 0 to 1 without NFDS, because a morph with higher potential fitness wins completely and the two morphs will switch at some point. In contrast, NFDS led to the coexistence of two morphs with different potential fitness in a certain geographic range along latitude due to rare morph advantage, and resulted in a smooth geographic cline of morph frequency.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results provide suggestive evidence that the combination of NFDS and gene-by-environment interaction, i.e., multi-selection pressure on color morphs, can explain the geographic cline in morph frequency in the current system.</p

Connecting the data landscape of long-term ecological studies: The SPI-Birds data hub

The integration and synthesis of the data in different areas of science is drastically slowed and hindered by a lack of standards and networking programmes. Long-term studies of individually marked animals are not an exception. These studies are especially important as instrumental for understanding evolutionary and ecological processes in the wild. Furthermore, their number and global distribution provides a unique opportunity to assess the generality of patterns and to address broad-scale global issues (e.g. climate change). To solve data integration issues and enable a new scale of ecological and evolutionary research based on long-term studies of birds, we have created the SPI-Birds Network and Database (www.spibirds.org)\u2014a large-scale initiative that connects data from, and researchers working on, studies of wild populations of individually recognizable (usually ringed) birds. Within year and a half since the establishment, SPI-Birds has recruited over 120 members, and currently hosts data on almost 1.5 million individual birds collected in 80 populations over 2,000 cumulative years, and counting. SPI-Birds acts as a data hub and a catalogue of studied populations. It prevents data loss, secures easy data finding, use and integration and thus facilitates collaboration and synthesis. We provide community-derived data and meta-data standards and improve data integrity guided by the principles of Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR), and aligned with the existing metadata languages (e.g. ecological meta-data language). The encouraging community involvement stems from SPI-Bird's decentralized approach: research groups retain full control over data use and their way of data management, while SPI-Birds creates tailored pipelines to convert each unique data format into a standard format. We outline the lessons learned, so that other communities (e.g. those working on other taxa) can adapt our successful model. Creating community-specific hubs (such as ours, COMADRE for animal demography, etc.) will aid much-needed large-scale ecological data integration

Bombus cullumanus—an extinct European bumblebee species?

International audienceBombus cullumanus s. str. has attracted some of the greatest conservation concerns among bumblebees in Europe because it might now be extinct. However, there has been long-standing disagreement about whether it is conspecific with other eastern pale-banded bumblebees. We investigate these relationships using new data from DNA (COI) barcodes. The results support a Nearctic rufocinctus-group (Bombus rufocinctus) and a Palaearctic cullumanus-group, the latter with just three species: Bombus semenoviellus, Bombus unicus and B. cullumanus s. l. (including several differently coloured taxa). We conclude that, although any persisting B. cullumanus cullumanus s. str. might be a regional conservation priority within Europe, nevertheless, because the species remains common elsewhere within its range in Asia, globally a higher conservation priority should be given to B. unicus, which is genetically more distinct and appears to have a much smaller population in the Russian Far East

A comparative analysis of the evolution of imperfect mimicry.

Although exceptional examples of adaptation are frequently celebrated, some outcomes of natural selection seem far from perfect. For example, many hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae) are harmless (Batesian) mimics of stinging Hymenoptera. However, although some hoverfly species are considered excellent mimics, other species bear only a superficial resemblance to their models and it is unclear why this is so. To evaluate hypotheses that have been put forward to explain interspecific variation in the mimetic fidelity of Palearctic Syrphidae we use a comparative approach. We show that the most plausible explanation is that predators impose less selection for mimetic fidelity on smaller hoverfly species because they are less profitable prey items. In particular, our findings, in combination with previous results, allow us to reject several key hypotheses for imperfect mimicry: first, human ratings of mimetic fidelity are positively correlated with both morphometric measures and avian rankings, indicating that variation in mimetic fidelity is not simply an illusion based on human perception; second, no species of syrphid maps out in multidimensional space as being intermediate in appearance between several different hymenopteran model species, as the multimodel hypothesis requires; and third, we find no evidence for a negative relationship between mimetic fidelity and abundance, which calls into question the kin-selection hypothesis. By contrast, a strong positive relationship between mimetic fidelity and body size supports the relaxed-selection hypothesis, suggesting that reduced predation pressure on less profitable prey species limits the selection for mimetic perfection

The remarkable diversity of bumblebees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Bombus) in the Eyne Valley (France, Pyrénées-Orientales)

peer reviewedLa Vallée d'Eyne (France, Pyrénées-Orientales) est bien connue pour la grande diversité de sa faune et de sa flore. Pendant six ans, les auteurs ont étudié les bourdons de cette vallée, accumulant plus de 5000 observations détaillées. Malgré la superficie réduite de la vallée (20,18 km2), 33 espèces de bourdons y ont été relevées sur les 46 espèces présentes en France continentale. Dans l'état actuel des connaissances, la vallée d'Eyne apparaît comme une des stations les plus riches au monde en espèces de bourdons. Pour chaque espèce, une carte de répartition et les préférendums écologiques (altitude, formations végétales, typologies CORINE, choix floraux) ont été établis. La caractérisation écologique de chaque espèce de bourdons indique que les ressources florales jouent un rôle important dans la structuration des communautés de bourdons de la vallée. L'altitude, l'abondance, la diversité des ressources florales et l'hétérogénéité en habitats permettent la survie et la coexistence de ce grand nombre d'espèces de bourdons aux affinités écologiques diverse

İmplementing practice-based physical education teacher education pedagogies

This article addresses a key theory-practice gap in physical education teacher education (PETE) programs that can lead to the inadequate preparation of teachers for the realities they will face in schools. To improve the relevance of traditional PETE programs, the essential elements of implementing practice-based teacher education pedagogies are presented. The article provides readers with pedagogies that focus on the authentic practices in teacher education designed to train preservice teachers to learn from their teaching, as well as to understand the nuances of teaching in varied contexts

Transnational research: the benefits of collaboration

İn this chapter, we describe our collaboration within and across countries on topics related to effective teaching and student learning. Specifically, content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge and practice-based teacher education in preservice physical education teacher education and in terms of continuing professional development. Our research team has conducted studies in Belgium, China, Japan, South Korea, Türkiye, and the United States. This work is both research and development, as well as translational in nature. It represents a case of workforce systems development at scale. The work has been impactful in terms of undergraduate and graduate education, teachers and students in schools, research and development, and policy change. © 2025 selection and editorial matter, Hal A. Lawson, Emily M. Jones, and Kevin Andrew Richards; individual chapters, the contributors. All rights reserved