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

蜜蜂是令人着迷的动物，它们的生活方式对人类有重要影响。在我们的实验室里，我们研究了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。其中一些蜜蜂对安大略省南部的居民来说是众所周知的，但它们中的大多数都是尼亚加拉“隐藏的蜜蜂动物群”的一部分，就在人们的眼皮底下生活着。我们的研究的第一部分集中在不同种类的蜜蜂的社会行为上，特别是木工蜂和汗蜂。我们研究这些类型的蜜蜂，因为雌性蜜蜂可以单独繁殖，也可以群居繁殖。独居的雌性蜜蜂自己抚养后代，大多数蜜蜂都是这种类型的。群居蜜蜂有时或总是群居在一起，一些雌性蜜蜂帮助其他蜜蜂抚养后代。我们正在研究影响女性是否会成为像女王一样的、占统治地位的个体，剥削她们的帮助者，或者成为像工人一样的下属，帮助别人而不是抚养自己的后代。我们的研究是基于对单独标记的雌性和雄性的行为观察和遗传分析，以了解哪些个体繁殖，哪些不繁殖。我们还在使用遗传学方法来了解雌性蜜蜂在成为蜂王或工蜂后大脑中发生的基因变化。我们研究的第二部分集中于自2003年以来监测尼亚加拉三个前垃圾填埋场的蜜蜂群落。关闭垃圾填埋场并随后将其恢复为公园，是对植物和野生动物重新回到它们已经被根除的栖息地的公开邀请。我们的研究表明，蜜蜂会迅速重新殖民修复后的垃圾填埋场，这是个好消息。然而，我们的研究也表明，在最初的复苏之后，我们场地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场地附近草地日益城市化的共同作用。干旱限制了蜜蜂的繁殖，因为遭受干旱袭击的植物不会产生太多的花粉或花蜜。当长满野花的空地被推土机推倒，取而代之的是住房开发项目时，城市化限制了蜜蜂的繁殖。然而，我们研究地点蜜蜂数量的下降可能是暂时的影响。例如，如果在新的郊区种植花园，这将有助于弥补草地被取代时失去的食物资源。我们的研究对所有加拿大人都很重要，因为我们对蜜蜂的了解越多，我们就越能更好地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习的研究技能适用于大学内外的许多类型的工作。我们尽可能多地与更广泛的社区分享我们的知识和技能，他们分享我们对蜜蜂的热情和兴趣。

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.