No Vertical Stratification Found in Cavity-Nesting bees and Wasps in Two Neotropical Forests of Argentina

TORRETTA, J P; MARRERO, H J

NEOTROPICAL ENTOMOLOGY

ENTOMOLOGICAL SOC BRASIL

Año: 2019

1519-566X

Verticalstratification is known in diverse arthropod communities in forests,but little is known about nesting ecology of trap-nesting bees andwasps in Neotropical forests. We studied the vertical colonization oftrap-nests by solitary bees and wasps in two forests in Argentina. Weobtained 204 nests of seven bee and six wasp species, with 1040 broodcells from which 660 hosts and 32 parasites (21parasitoid and 11 kleptoparasite)adults emerged from four groups (fivespecies of wasps [Chrysididae, Eulophidae and Ichneumonidae], fourflies [Bombyliidae and Sarcophagidae], three bees [Apidae andMegachilidae], and one species of beetle [Meloidae]).Thenumber of nests, reproductive success, parasitism rate and mortalitydid not differ between canopy and understory.Theynor didthe number of brood cells, emerged adults per trap-nest, and totalabundance per transect. Wefound similar assemblages of trap-nesting bees and wasps in bothforests, but contraryto our expectations, we did not find any significant difference inthe analyzed variables.Our results suggest that access to resources used by trap-nesting beeand wasp females was at least similar, and/or that the microclimaticconditions were homogeneous in canopy and understory. Moreover, ourresults agree withthose reported bysome researchers but contrastwith others, demonstrating the great variation in the response ofbees and wasps nesting in preexisting cavities to verticalstratification in forests and the need for more studies about thistopic.p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; direction: ltr; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 115%; }p.western { font-family: "Calibri", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; }p.cjk { font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; }p.ctl { font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; }a:link { color: rgb(0, 0, 255); }