Assessing the Presence and Distribution of 23 Hawaiian Yellow-Faced Bee Species on Lands Adjacent to Military Installations on O‘ahu and Hawai‘i Island

Reports were scanned in black and white at a resolution of 600 dots per inch and were converted to text using Adobe Paper Capture Plug-in.The endemic Hylaeus bees are critical pollinators in native ecosystems in Hawai‘i. Seven species are proposed for listing as endangered, and many more are rare and potentially endangered. We surveyed 40 localities on O‘ahu, 56 on Hawai‘i, and approximately 70 km of the coastline of Hawai‘i for 23 species of native Hylaeus, including four added during the course of the project. All of the native Hylaeus were much rarer than they were during previous surveys in 1999–2002, including many previously considered common. The only target species found in significant numbers was H. anthracinus, which is restricted to narrow strips of seashore vegetation on both islands but can occur in high density where present. However, the largest O‘ahu population, at Ka‘ena Point, appears to have completely disappeared since it was last observed in 2002. Significant populations exist on Hawai‘i, but only two sites are currently known on O‘ahu. Six of the other species on O‘ahu were not seen at all, and the remaining six (H. anomalus, H. laetus, H. makaha, H. mamo, H. mana, and H. mimicus) were collected once or twice and/or with a total of 1–5 individuals each. On Hawai‘i, only H. flavipes, H. kona, H. laetus, H. ombrias, and H. rugulosus were collected, mainly from in or around Pōhakuloa Training Area during a brief period of July and August. Most non-target species have been found at least once, but nearly all in low numbers; some of the less common ones, including H. setosifrons on Hawai‘i, were extremely rare or absent. The past several years have been extremely dry on the leeward sides of the islands, where most of the rare species occur, and drought may be a factor in the low numbers of bees. Serious damage and mortality among Myoporum sandwicense, an important floral resource, as a result of thrips infestation may also be important in reducing numbers and diversity of bees in montane areas of Hawai‘i. These results indicate that management of Hylaeus for recovery will be difficult, particularly at montane sites, but that the conservation need is also increasingly urgent as invasive species and climate change are having a greater and more rapid impact than anticipated. In coastal sites, the alien tree Heliotropium foertherianum (=Tournefortia argentea, tree heliotrope) is a critical floral resource for Hylaeus and should be managed with careful regard for impacts on bee populations.This project was funded by Department of Defense Legacy Resource Management Program grant 11-104 to the Hawai‘i Division of Forestry and Wildlife. We thank Betsy Gagné, Lisa Hadway, Ryan Peralta, and Elliott Parsons of DOFAW; Peter Peshut, Nikhil Inman-Narahari, Rogelio Doratt, Rachel Moseley, Martha Kawasaki, and Bridget Frederick of Pōhakuloa Training Area; Kapua Kawelo, Joby Rohrer, Michael Walker, Stephanie Joe, and many others of the O‘ahu Army Natural Resources Program; Sam Droege of USGS; Jason Gibbs of Cornell University; and Donald Price, Leon Hallacher, and Herbert Poepoe of the University of Hawai‘i–Hilo for support and assistance in carrying out work for this project

Reintroduction of a Native Hawaiian Bee, Hylaeus anthracinus (F. Smith) (Hymenoptera: Colletidae), to Part of its Former Range

The endangered endemic coastal bee Hylaeus anthracinus (F. Smith) (Colletidae) is currently restricted to a few populations on each island from Oahu to Hawaii, which are mostly near the shoreline and vulnerable to extirpation due to environmental change or alien species incursion. At the same time, the species is absent from some sites where it formerly occurred that have once again become suitable due to habitat restoration. To increase the number of populations and test translocation as a method for Hylaeus conservation, bees were captured at highdensity sites in South Kohala, Hawaii island and released at three sites in South Kona at Puuhonua o Honaunau National Historic Park. Follow-up monitoring indicated that they successfully established at the highest-quality site with a diverse array of native plants following a single release of 100 bees, but failed to survive at two sites with high abundance of bigheaded ants (Pheidole megacephala) even after a second release. This study may serve as a model for re-establishing not only Hylaeus but other native insects that have been lost from large parts of their range

Mitochondrial heteroplasmy and DNA barcoding in Hawaiian Hylaeus (Nesoprosopis) bees (Hymenoptera: Colletidae)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The past several years have seen a flurry of papers seeking to clarify the utility and limits of DNA barcoding, particularly in areas such as species discovery and paralogy due to nuclear pseudogenes. Heteroplasmy, the coexistence of multiple mitochondrial haplotypes in a single organism, has been cited as a potentially serious problem for DNA barcoding but its effect on identification accuracy has not been tested. In addition, few studies of barcoding have tested a large group of closely-related species with a well-established morphological taxonomy. In this study we examine both of these issues, by densely sampling the Hawaiian <it>Hylaeus </it>bee radiation.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Individuals from 21 of the 49 <it>a priori </it>morphologically-defined species exhibited coding sequence heteroplasmy at levels of 1-6% or more. All homoplasmic species were successfully identified by COI using standard methods of analysis, but only 71% of heteroplasmic species. The success rate in identifying heteroplasmic species was increased to 86% by treating polymorphisms as character states rather than ambiguities. Nuclear pseudogenes (numts) were also present in four species, and were distinguishable from heteroplasmic sequences by patterns of nucleotide and amino acid change.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Heteroplasmy significantly decreased the reliability of species identification. In addition, the practical issue of dealing with large numbers of polymorphisms- and resulting increased time and labor required - makes the development of DNA barcode databases considerably more complex than has previously been suggested. The impact of heteroplasmy on the utility of DNA barcoding as a bulk specimen identification tool will depend upon its frequency across populations, which remains unknown. However, DNA barcoding is still likely to remain an important identification tool for those species that are difficult or impossible to identify through morphology, as is the case for the ecologically important solitary bee fauna.</p

Eupelmus niger (Hymenoptera: Eupelmidae), a Parasitoid of the Endangered Hawaiian Yellow-faced Bee Hylaeus anthracinus (Hymenoptera: Colletidae)

Eupelmus (Eupelmus) niger Ashmead, 1901 (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea, Eupelmidae, Eupelminae), the first-ever species of Eupelmus Dalman described from Hawai‘i, is newly recorded from O‘ahu island as a solitary, primary parasitoid of the brood of the endangered Hawaiian yellow-faced bee Hylaeus anthracinus (F. Smith) (Hymenoptera: Colletidae) and the non-native nimble masked bee, Hylaeus (Indialaeus) strenuus (Cameron). Both sexes are described, including, for the first time, males, and illustrated along with the female holotype through macrophotography. The biology of E. niger is discussed relative to rearing from artificial nest blocks

Biological Inventory of Anchialine Pool Invertebrates at Pu‘uhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park and Pu‘ukoholā Heiau National Historic Site, Hawai‘i Island

Reports were scanned in black and white at a resolution of 600 dots per inch and were converted to text using Adobe Paper Capture Plug-in.Inventories for major groups of invertebrates were completed at anchialine pool complexes in Pu‘uhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park (PUHO) and Pu‘ukoholā Heiau National Historic Site (PUHE) on the island of Hawai‘i. Nine pools within two pool complexes were surveyed at PUHO, along with one extensive pool at the terminus of Makeāhua Gulch at PUHE. At both parks, inventories documented previously unreported diversity, with pool complexes at PUHO exhibiting greater species richness for most taxa than the pool at PUHE. Inventories at PUHO recorded five species of molluscs, four species of crustaceans (including the candidate endangered shrimp Metabetaeus lohena), two species of Orthoptera, four species of Odonata (including the candidate endangered damselfly Megalagrion xanthomelas), fourteen species of Diptera, nine taxa of plankton, and thirteen species of ants; inventories at the PUHE pool produced only one species of mollusc, two species of crustacean, at least one species of Orthoptera, four species of Odonata, thirty species of Diptera, five taxa of plankton, and four species of ants. Further survey work may be necessary to document the full diversity of pool fauna, especially in species-rich groups like the Diptera. Inventory data will be used to generate a network wide database of species presence and distribution, and will aid in developing management plans for anchialine pool resources.This inventory was made possible thanks to support from the National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring Program and the U.S. Geological Survey Pacific Island Ecosystems Research Center

A Preliminary Study of Effects of Feral Pig Density on Native Hawaiian Montane Rainforest Vegetation

Reports were scanned in black and white at a resolution of 600 dots per inch and were converted to text using Adobe Paper Capture Plug-in.This study aimed to examine the effects of different levels of pig density on native Hawaiian forest vegetation. Pig sign was measured across four pig management units in the ‘Ōla‘a Forest from 1998 through 2004 and pig density estimated based upon pig activity. Six paired vegetation monitoring plots were established in the units, each pair straddling a pig fence. Percent cover and species richness of understory vegetation, ground cover, alien species, and preferred pig forage plants were measured in 1997 and 2003 and compared with pig density estimates. Rainfall and hunting effort and success by management personnel were also tracked over the study period. Vegetation monitoring found a higher percentage of native plants in pig-free or low-pig areas compared to those with medium or high pig densities, with no significant change in the percent native plant species between the first and second monitoring periods. Differences between plots were strongly affected by location, with a higher percentage of native plants in western plots, where pig damage has historically been lower. Expansion of this survey with more plots would help improve the statistical power to detect differences in vegetation caused by pigs. Because of the limited vegetation sampling in this study, the results must be viewed as descriptive. We compare the vegetation within 30 × 30 m plots across three thresholds of historical pig density and show how pig densities can change in unanticipated directions within management units. While these results cannot be extrapolated to area-wide effects of pig activity, these data do contribute to a growing body of information on the impacts of feral pigs on Hawaiian plant communities.was provided by a grant from the Mellon Foundation (administered by The Nature Conservancy) and the Invasive Species Program of the U.S. Geological Survey. Additional support was provided by the National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring Program and the Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Any use of trade, product, or firm names in this publication is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government

Reproductive Capacity Evolves in Response to Ecology through Common Changes in Cell Number in Hawaiian Drosophila

© 2019 Elsevier Ltd Lifetime reproductive capacity is a critical fitness component. In insects, female reproductive capacity is largely determined by the number of ovarioles, the egg-producing subunits of the ovary [e.g., 1]. Recent work has provided insights into ovariole number regulation in Drosophila melanogaster. However, whether mechanisms discovered under laboratory conditions explain evolutionary variation in natural populations is an outstanding question. We investigated potential effects of ecology on the developmental processes underlying ovariole number evolution among Hawaiian Drosophila, a large adaptive radiation wherein the highest and lowest ovariole numbers of the family have evolved within 25 million years. Previous studies proposed that ovariole number correlated with oviposition substrate [2–4] but sampled largely one clade of these flies and were limited by a provisional phylogeny and the available comparative methods. We test this hypothesis by applying phylogenetic modeling to an expanded sampling of ovariole numbers and substrate types and show support for these predictions across all major groups of Hawaiian Drosophila, wherein ovariole number variation is best explained by adaptation to specific substrates. Furthermore, we show that oviposition substrate evolution is linked to changes in the allometric relationship between body size and ovariole number. Finally, we provide evidence that the major changes in ovarian cell number that regulate D. melanogaster ovariole number also regulate ovariole number in Hawaiian drosophilids. Thus, we provide evidence that this remarkable adaptive radiation is linked to evolutionary changes in a key reproductive trait regulated at least partly by variation in the same developmental parameters that operate in the model species D. melanogaster. Organisms leaving more offspring likely have higher fitness. Sarikaya et al. use the adaptive radiation of Hawaiian Drosophila to investigate the evolution of fecundity. They find that habitat shifts played a strong role and identify a developmental process that underlies evolutionary change in ovarian development and impacts egg-laying capacity

Height and body-mass index trajectories of school-aged children and adolescents from 1985 to 2019 in 200 countries and territories: a pooled analysis of 2181 population-based studies with 65 million participants

Summary Background Comparable global data on health and nutrition of school-aged children and adolescents are scarce. We aimed to estimate age trajectories and time trends in mean height and mean body-mass index (BMI), which measures weight gain beyond what is expected from height gain, for school-aged children and adolescents. Methods For this pooled analysis, we used a database of cardiometabolic risk factors collated by the Non-Communicable Disease Risk Factor Collaboration. We applied a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate trends from 1985 to 2019 in mean height and mean BMI in 1-year age groups for ages 5–19 years. The model allowed for non-linear changes over time in mean height and mean BMI and for non-linear changes with age of children and adolescents, including periods of rapid growth during adolescence. Findings We pooled data from 2181 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in 65 million participants in 200 countries and territories. In 2019, we estimated a difference of 20 cm or higher in mean height of 19-year-old adolescents between countries with the tallest populations (the Netherlands, Montenegro, Estonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina for boys; and the Netherlands, Montenegro, Denmark, and Iceland for girls) and those with the shortest populations (Timor-Leste, Laos, Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea for boys; and Guatemala, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Timor-Leste for girls). In the same year, the difference between the highest mean BMI (in Pacific island countries, Kuwait, Bahrain, The Bahamas, Chile, the USA, and New Zealand for both boys and girls and in South Africa for girls) and lowest mean BMI (in India, Bangladesh, Timor-Leste, Ethiopia, and Chad for boys and girls; and in Japan and Romania for girls) was approximately 9–10 kg/m2. In some countries, children aged 5 years started with healthier height or BMI than the global median and, in some cases, as healthy as the best performing countries, but they became progressively less healthy compared with their comparators as they grew older by not growing as tall (eg, boys in Austria and Barbados, and girls in Belgium and Puerto Rico) or gaining too much weight for their height (eg, girls and boys in Kuwait, Bahrain, Fiji, Jamaica, and Mexico; and girls in South Africa and New Zealand). In other countries, growing children overtook the height of their comparators (eg, Latvia, Czech Republic, Morocco, and Iran) or curbed their weight gain (eg, Italy, France, and Croatia) in late childhood and adolescence. When changes in both height and BMI were considered, girls in South Korea, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and some central Asian countries (eg, Armenia and Azerbaijan), and boys in central and western Europe (eg, Portugal, Denmark, Poland, and Montenegro) had the healthiest changes in anthropometric status over the past 3·5 decades because, compared with children and adolescents in other countries, they had a much larger gain in height than they did in BMI. The unhealthiest changes—gaining too little height, too much weight for their height compared with children in other countries, or both—occurred in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, New Zealand, and the USA for boys and girls; in Malaysia and some Pacific island nations for boys; and in Mexico for girls. Interpretation The height and BMI trajectories over age and time of school-aged children and adolescents are highly variable across countries, which indicates heterogeneous nutritional quality and lifelong health advantages and risks

Heterogeneous contributions of change in population distribution of body mass index to change in obesity and underweight NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC)

From 1985 to 2016, the prevalence of underweight decreased, and that of obesity and severe obesity increased, in most regions, with significant variation in the magnitude of these changes across regions. We investigated how much change in mean body mass index (BMI) explains changes in the prevalence of underweight, obesity, and severe obesity in different regions using data from 2896 population-based studies with 187 million participants. Changes in the prevalence of underweight and total obesity, and to a lesser extent severe obesity, are largely driven by shifts in the distribution of BMI, with smaller contributions from changes in the shape of the distribution. In East and Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, the underweight tail of the BMI distribution was left behind as the distribution shifted. There is a need for policies that address all forms of malnutrition by making healthy foods accessible and affordable, while restricting unhealthy foods through fiscal and regulatory restrictions

Hylaeus (Nesoprosopis) mamo (Hymenoptera: Colletidae), a New Endemic Bee from Oahu, Hawaii

Hylaeus mamo new species, a minute bee with extensive yellow mark- ings, is the most recent in a series of Oahu endemic bees discovered in the past 15 years. In addition, the male of Hylaeus makaha Magnacca, 2011 is described