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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Logan, Utah » Pollinating Insect-Biology, Management, Systematics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #169956
Title: EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE ON OSMIA LIGNARIA (HYMENOPTERA: MEGACHILIDAE) PREPUPA-ADULT DEVELOPMENT, SURVIVAL, AND EMERGENCE IN THE ORCHARD POLLINATOR

Author
item Kemp, William - Bill
item BOSCH, JORDI - UNIV AUTO,BARCELON,SPAIN

Submitted to: Journal of Economic Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/1/2005
Publication Date: 12/8/2005
Citation: Kemp, W.P., Bosch, J. 2005. Effect of temperature on osmia lignaria (hymenoptera: megachilidae) prepupa-adult development, survival, and emergence in the orchard pollinator. Journal of Economic Entomology. 98(6):1917-1923.

Interpretive Summary: The solitary bee Osmia lignaria Say is being developed as an orchard pollinator in the western United States. Female bees are active during the early spring and construct nests consisting of a linear series of unlined cells delimited by mud partitions. Cells are provisioned with a pollen/nectar mass on which an egg is deposited, and nests are sealed with a mud plug. In 1997, we initiated two experiments on the development, mortality, and emergence of O. lignaria at selected laboratory temperature regimes and outdoors. In the first experiment, published during 2000, we compared temperature treatments for their adequacy in maintaining healthy O. lignaria populations. In a second experiment, reported herein, we determined the relationship between rearing temperatures and prepupa-adult development rates, as well as emergence time and longevity after wintering and incubation the following spring. We observed important differences in O. lignaria developmental responses to selected temperature treatments. The results of these investigations contribute to the accumulating evidence that supports the ultimate development of regionally adapted populations (or 'varieties') of this outstanding orchard pollinator.

Technical Abstract: The solitary bee Osmia lignaria Say is being developed as an orchard pollinator in the western United States. Female bees are active during the early spring and construct nests consisting of a linear series of unlined cells delimited by mud partitions. Cells are provisioned with a pollen/nectar mass on which an egg is deposited, and nests are sealed with a mud plug. In 1997, we initiated two experiments on the development, mortality, and emergence of O. lignaria at selected laboratory temperature regimes and outdoors. In the first experiment (Bosch and Kemp 2000, Environ. Entomol. 29(1): 8-13), we compared temperature treatments for their adequacy in maintaining healthy O. lignaria populations. In a second experiment, reported herein, we determined the relationship between rearing temperatures and prepupa-adult development rates, as well as emergence time and longevity after wintering and incubation the following spring. We observed important differences in O. lignaria prepupae versus pupae responses to selected temperature treatments. The relationship between temperature and days to pupa was U-shaped, with additional time to transit the prepupa-pupa interval at temperatures above and below 26ºC. The negative relationship between temperature and the length of the pupa to adult interval contrasts with the U-shaped thermal response observed for prepupae. Thus, with each increase in thermal heat units over the range of temperature treatments tested, we observed an additional reduction in the pupa-adult interval. Individuals reared at constant 18ºC required 2.4x as many days to transit the pupa-adult interval compared with those at constant 32ºC. The implications of these results to the ultimate development of regionally adapted pollinator populations are discussed.