TY - JOUR

T1 - Generalist social bees maximize diversity intake in plant species-rich and resource-abundant environments

AU - Kaluza, Benjamin F.

AU - Wallace, Helen

AU - Keller, Alexander

AU - Heard, Tim A.

AU - Jeffers, Bradley

AU - Drescher, Nora

AU - Blüthgen, Nico

AU - Leonhardt, Sara D.

N1 - Funding Information: The authors thank Rhys Smith, Julia Nagler, Manuel Pützstück, Birte Hensen, Mia Kaluza, and Marvin Schäfer for assistance with field work. Sahara Farms, Macadamia Farm Management Pty Ltd, and Maroochy Bushland Botanic Gardens, as well as numerous private land and garden owners hosted our bee hives, for which we are very grateful. We thank Andrea Hilpert for analyzing the amino acid content of pollen. We further much appreciate the comments of three anonymous reviewers which greatly helped to improve the manuscript. BFK received funding from the German Academic Exchange Agency (DAAD). Funding was provided by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG Project: LE 2750/1-1). Publisher Copyright: © 2017 Kaluza et al.

PY - 2017/3/1

Y1 - 2017/3/1

N2 - Numerous studies revealed a positive relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, suggesting that biodiverse environments may not only enhance ecosystem processes, but also benefit individual ecosystem members by, for example, providing a higher diversity of resources. Whether and how the number of available resources affects resource collection and subsequently consumers (e.g., through impacting functions associated with resources) have, however, been little investigated, although a better understanding of this relationship may help explain why the abundance and richness of many animal species typically decline with decreasing plant (resource) diversity. Using a social bee species as model (Tetragonula carbonaria), we investigated how plant species richness-recorded for study sites located in different habitats-and associated resource abundance affected the diversity and functionality (here defined as nutritional content and antimicrobial activity) of resources (i.e., pollen, nectar, and resin) collected by a generalist herbivorous consumer. The diversity of both pollen and resin collected strongly increased with increasing plant/tree species richness, while resource abundance was only positively correlated with resin diversity. These findings suggest that bees maximize resource diversity intake in (resource) diverse habitats. Collecting more diverse resources did, however, not increase their functionality, which appeared to be primarily driven by the surrounding (plant) source community in our study. In generalist herbivores, maximizing resource diversity intake may therefore primarily secure collection of sufficient amounts of resources across the entire foraging season, but it also ensures that the allocated resources meet all functional needs. Decreasing available resource diversity may thus impact consumers primarily by reduced resource abundance, but also by reduced resource functionality, particularly when resources of high functionality (e.g., from specific plant species) become scarce.

AB - Numerous studies revealed a positive relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, suggesting that biodiverse environments may not only enhance ecosystem processes, but also benefit individual ecosystem members by, for example, providing a higher diversity of resources. Whether and how the number of available resources affects resource collection and subsequently consumers (e.g., through impacting functions associated with resources) have, however, been little investigated, although a better understanding of this relationship may help explain why the abundance and richness of many animal species typically decline with decreasing plant (resource) diversity. Using a social bee species as model (Tetragonula carbonaria), we investigated how plant species richness-recorded for study sites located in different habitats-and associated resource abundance affected the diversity and functionality (here defined as nutritional content and antimicrobial activity) of resources (i.e., pollen, nectar, and resin) collected by a generalist herbivorous consumer. The diversity of both pollen and resin collected strongly increased with increasing plant/tree species richness, while resource abundance was only positively correlated with resin diversity. These findings suggest that bees maximize resource diversity intake in (resource) diverse habitats. Collecting more diverse resources did, however, not increase their functionality, which appeared to be primarily driven by the surrounding (plant) source community in our study. In generalist herbivores, maximizing resource diversity intake may therefore primarily secure collection of sufficient amounts of resources across the entire foraging season, but it also ensures that the allocated resources meet all functional needs. Decreasing available resource diversity may thus impact consumers primarily by reduced resource abundance, but also by reduced resource functionality, particularly when resources of high functionality (e.g., from specific plant species) become scarce.

KW - Functional complementarity

KW - Functional redundancy

KW - Meliponini

KW - Nutritional ecology

KW - Plant-insect interactions

KW - Pollinator decline

KW - Ecosystems Research

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85017498657&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1002/ecs2.1758

DO - 10.1002/ecs2.1758

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85017498657

VL - 8

JO - Ecosphere

JF - Ecosphere

SN - 2150-8925

IS - 3

M1 - e01758

ER -