Long-term studies of bee social behaviour, ecology, and evolution

蜜蜂是令人着迷的动物，其生活方式对人类产生重要影响。 在我们的实验室中，我们研究蜜蜂行为和生态学的几个方面。 自 2003 年以来，我们的研究重点是在安大略省南部尼亚加拉地区发现的 150 多种蜜蜂。 其中一些蜜蜂为安大略省南部的居民所熟知，但大多数都是尼亚加拉“隐藏蜜蜂动物群”的一部分，生活在人们的眼皮底下，不被人注意。 我们研究的第一部分重点关注不同种类蜜蜂的社会行为，特别是木蜂和汗蜂。 我们研究这些类型的蜜蜂，因为雌性可以单独或群居繁殖。 独居雌性独自抚养后代，大多数蜜蜂都是这种类型。 群居蜜蜂有时或总是群体生活，一些雌性帮助其他雌性抚养后代。 我们正在研究影响女性是否成为女王般的、剥削其助手的统治个体，或成为工人般的下属、帮助他人而不是抚养自己的后代的过程。 我们的研究基于对单独标记的雌性和雄性的行为观察以及遗传分析，以了解哪些个体繁殖，哪些个体不繁殖。 我们还使用遗传方法来了解雌性蜜蜂在成为蜂后或工蜂时大脑中发生的遗传变化。 我们研究的第二部分重点关注自 2003 年以来监测尼亚加拉三个前垃圾填埋场的蜜蜂群落。垃圾填埋场的关闭以及随后将其恢复为公园，是对植物和野生动物的公开邀请，让它们回到它们已被消灭的栖息地。 我们的研究表明，蜜蜂很快就会在恢复的垃圾填埋场重新定居，这是个好消息。 然而，我们的研究还表明，在最初的恢复之后，我们站点的蜜蜂数量正在下降。 我们认为这是由于周期性干旱和我们所在地附近草地日益城市化的共同作用造成的。 干旱限制了蜜蜂的繁殖，因为遭受干旱的植物不能产生太多花粉或花蜜。 当开满野花的“空”田地被推平并被住房开发所取代时，城市化限制了蜜蜂的繁殖。 然而，我们研究地点蜜蜂丰度的下降可能只是暂时的影响。 例如，如果在新郊区种植花园，这将有助于弥补因更换草地而损失的食物资源。 我们的研究对所有加拿大人都很重要，因为我们对蜜蜂了解得越多，我们就越能保护它们及其在自然、农业和城市环境中的关键作用。 在实践方面，学生在我们实验室学到的研究技能适用于大学内外的许多类型的工作。 我们尽可能地与更广泛的社区分享我们的知识和技能，他们与我们一样对蜜蜂充满热情和兴趣。

Bees are fascinating animals whose life styles have important consequences for humans. In our lab, we study several aspects of bee behaviour and ecology. Since 2003, our research has focussed on the more than 150 bee species found in the Niagara region of southern Ontario. A few of these bees are well known to residents of southern Ontario, but most of them are part of Niagara's “hidden bee fauna”, living unnoticed right under people's noses. The first part of our research focusses on the social behaviour of bees of different kinds, in particular the carpenter bees and sweat bees. We study these types of bees, because females can breed solitarily or socially. Solitary females raise their offspring by themselves, and most bees are of this type. Social bees sometimes or always live in groups, with some females helping others to raise their offspring. We are studying the processes that influence whether females become queen-like, dominant individuals that exploit their helpers, or worker-like, subordinates that help others instead of raising their own offspring. Our studies are based on behavioural observations of individually marked females and males and on genetic analyses for understanding which individuals breed and which do not. We are also using genetic methods to understand the genetic changes that take place within the brains of female bees, as they become queens or workers. The second part of our research focusses on monitoring bee communities in three former landfill sites across Niagara since 2003. The closure of landfill sites and their subsequent restoration as parks is an open invitation to plants and wildlife to move back into habitat from which they had been eradicated. Our studies demonstrate that bees quickly recolonize restored landfills, and this is good news. However, our studies also suggest that after the initial recovery, bee populations in our sites are declining. We think this is due to a combination of periodic droughts and increasing urbanization of meadows near our sites. Drought limits bee reproduction because drought-stricken plants do not produce much pollen or nectar. Urbanization limits bee reproduction when "empty” fields full of wildflowers are bulldozed and replaced with housing developments. However, the declines in bee abundance at our research sites could be temporary effects. For instance, if gardens are planted in new suburbs, these will help to replace the food resources lost when meadows were replaced. Our research is important to all Canadians, because the more we understand about bees, the better we will be able to conserve them and their critical roles in natural, agricultural, and urban settings. On the practical side, the research skills that students learn in our lab are applicable to many types of work in and out of universities. And as much as we can, we share our knowledge and skills with the wider community who share our enthusiasm and interest in bees.