Individual-level specialisation and interspecific resource partitioning in bees revealed by pollen DNA metabarcoding.

ABSTRACT: It is increasingly recognised that intraspecific variation in traits, such as morphology, behaviour, or diet is both ubiquitous and ecologically important. While many species of predators and herbivores are known to display high levels of between-individual diet variation, there is a lack of studies on pollinators. It is important to fill in this gap because individual-level specialisation of flower-visiting insects is expected to affect their efficiency as pollinators with consequences for plant reproduction. Accordingly, the aim of our study was to quantify the level of individual-level specialisation and foraging preferences, as well as interspecific resource partitioning, in three co-occurring species of bees of the genus Ceratina (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Xylocopinae), C. chalyb

SUBMITTER: Klecka J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9359135 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature