Talk at ESA2014

1. The allometry of bee tongue length
and its uses in ecology
Ignasi Bartomeus
Dan Cariveau
Geetha Nayak
Joe Zientek
Rachael Winfree
@ibartomeus
nacho.bartomeus@gmail.com

3. Tongue length is linked to:
-Extinction risk (Beisjmier et al. 2006, Bommarco et al 2013)

4. Tongue length is linked to:
-Extinction risk (Beisjmier et al. 2006, Bommarco et al 2013)
-Plant-pollinator network linkage rules
(Santamaría and Rodriguez-Gironés 2008)

5. Tongue length is linked to:
-Extinction risk (Beisjmier et al. 2006, Bommarco et al 2013)
-Plant-pollinator network linkage rules
(Santamaría and Rodriguez-Gironés 2008)
-Foraging efficiency (Harder 1886, Balfour et al 2013)
-Pollination efficiency (Rundolf et al In prep)

6. Tongue length is linked to:
-Extinction risk (Beisjmier et al. 2006, Bommarco et al 2013)
-Plant-pollinator network linkage rules
(Santamaría and Rodriguez-Gironés 2008)
-Foraging efficiency (Harder 1886, Balfour et al 2013)
-Pollination efficiency (Rundolf et al In prep)
-Co-evolutionary processes (Borrell 2005)

7. Tongue length is linked to:
-Extinction risk (Beisjmier et al. 2006, Bommarco et al 2013)
-Plant-pollinator network linkage rules
(Santamaría and Rodriguez-Gironés 2008)
-Foraging efficiency (Harder 1886, Balfour et al 2013)
-Pollination efficiency (Rundolf et al In prep)
-Co-evolutionary processes (Borrell 2005)
-Breeding of crops to increase honey bee visitation (Hawkins 1969)

8. Single species:
(e.g.Aizen et al 2008)
Bombus dahlbomii Bombus terrestris

9. Single species:
Community ecology:
...
(e.g.Aizen et al 2008)

10. phylogeny
Colletes Amegilla Megachile Augchlora

11. allometry
Julian Huxley (1936)
log-body mass
log-metabolicrate

12. body mass
speciestrait
species trait = a*body massb
(slope in log-log!)
proportionality coefficient
scaling
exponent
allometry

13. Joe Zientek
Let’s measure tongues, then!
Geetha Nayak

14. Thorax
795 specimens
108 species
27 genus
5 families
Glossa
head

15. Thorax
795 specimens
108 species
27 genus
5 families
Glossa
head
Cane 1987

16. Analysis:
Tongue length = (a+Family)*body sizeb

17. Analysis:
Tongue length = (a+Family)*body sizeb
-Tested IT and head width independently as size
measure.
-Tested non linearities on this variables.
-Tested each term importance.
-Tested for both intercept and slope changes
- Best model selected using AIC comparisons

18. Best model include both IT + Family
Apidae
log -
log-
Tongue length = (a+Family)*ITb

19. Megachilidae
Best model include both IT + Family
log -
log-

20. Halictidae
Best model include both IT + Family
log -
log-

21. Colletidae
Best model include both IT + Family
log -
log-

22. Andrenidae
Best model include both IT + Family
R2 = 0.90
log -
log-

23. Allometry can be calculated on dry body size

24. Bombus
A tool for
community ecology
Apidae

25. Maybe the interest is in the residuals?

26. Is short and long tongue families a good proxy?

27. Is short and long tongue families a good proxy?
R2 < 0.10

28. What about intra-specific relationships?
Tongue length = (a+Sex)*ITb

29. What about intra-specific relationships?
Genus_species n R^2
Bombus griseocollis 67 0.411
Bombus bimaculatus 54 0.536
Xylocopa virginica 40 0.009 (ns)
Ceratina ssp. 34 0.649
Colletes inaequalis 33 0.155
Habropoda laboriosa 32 0.195
Bombus impatiens 29 0.768
Halictus ligatus 29 0.345
Megachile mendica 28 0.689
Melissodes denticulata 24 0.421
Hoplitis pilosifrons 23 0.792
Augochlora pura 21 0.259
Lasioglossum versatum 19 0.080 (ns)
Bombus perplexus 17 0.580
Agapostemon virescens 16 0.221
Interesting to understand why variation in tongue length
and body size is decoupled at the individual level
6 out of 15
species
R2>0.5
(Peat et al. 2005)

30. @ibartomeus
nacho.bartomeus@gmail.com
www.bartomeuslab.com
https://github.com/ibartomeus/BeeIT
Want to use the equation (R code):
Want to know more on how to measure tongues?
Talk with Joe at his Poster (227) Friday morning.
Thanks!
There will be a pollination Bee happy hour
(17:30) at DeVere's Irish Pub located at
1521 L St. Join us!