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The Lorentz symmetry breaking theory not only affects the space-time background but also the dynamic behavior of bosons and fermions in curved space-time. Therefore, the Lorentz symmetry breaking theory will affect the quantum tunneling rate, Hawking temperature, black hole entropy, and other physical quantities of black holes. According to the modification of the space-time background and the modification of the particle dynamic equations, the quantum tunneling radiation of the Kerr-Sen-like black hole in bumblebee gravitational theory and its related contents are deeply studied. The research methods and a series of new results obtained in this paper are discussed. This makes the research methods and conclusions in this paper of more astrophysical significance and reference value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bumble bees are known to be amongst the most efficient natural pollinators and their increased scarcity in the ecosystem has led us to study their habitat and ethological preferences, so that future efforts can be designed for their restoration under the natural habitat. The present investigation explores the natural nest architecture, structural features of nest habitat, location of the nest, environmental parameters, population dynamics, emergence of drones, gynes, and variation in the sex ratio of Bombus haemorrhodalis. A total of ten natural nests were excavated at different altitudes ranging from 473.05 to 1258.52 m from different sites in two locations Nauni and Gandhal. The species inhabited the underground abandoned rodent's cavities as nests at a depth of 15 cm to 140 cm with 1–2 external hidden entrances or below ground covered with involucrum made of small dried grass, leaves, pine needles, paper infused on/with wax, etc. The shape of the nest varied from circular to oval with an average size of about 3.88 cubic decimeters. The colony strength of all excavated nests ranged between 15 and 113 individuals, with average internal ambient temperature and relative humidity of the nest cavity varying from 20.9–29.7 °C and 24.6–79.3 percent, respectively. The honey storage (length x width; 16.02 × 15.74 mm), queen (15.02 × 14.60 mm), worker (13.25 × 12.58 mm) and drone cells (11.13 mm × 10.45 mm) varied in dimensions and were constructed by the workers with colony development. As a potential natural strategy to ensure survival, the gynes emerged earlier and higher in number than drones in late summer to early autumn and this progeny survived until the end of autumn. The current study exploring the natural environment of B. haemorrhoidalis helps understand and correlate the natural nest characteristics with laboratory-reared colonies for year-round rearing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Asian Journals of Ecotoxicology is the property of Gai Kan Bian Wei Hui and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Insect Biodiversity & Systematics is the property of Tarbiat Modares University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Mosquito adulticides are perceived by the public as detrimental to nontarget arthropods, contributing to declines of native and beneficial insects. However, the actual impact of adulticides on nontarget arthropods in nature needs to incorporate biological and ecological elements. Here, we investigated the effect of biological/behavioral traits (butterfly roosting at different heights, roosting in sites underneath foliage, bumblebee hive usage) and interactions (parasitism, predation) of pollinators (butterflies and bumblebees) that could mediate the impacts of malathion application in manipulative semi-field experiments in Florida, USA. Roosting height from the spray route had a significant negative relationship with mortality of butterflies treated with ULV malathion, with high survival at the highest roosting height (7 m), but butterflies roosting among vegetation did not have higher survival. Bumblebees with hive access had significantly higher survival than bumblebees without hive access. Host plants treated with ULV malathion significantly reduced parasitism of monarch eggs by Trichogramma platneri, but increased predation of monarch caterpillars by Polistes paper wasps. These data provide insight into the realistic impacts of adulticide applications on pollinators in nature which will enable mosquito control districts to better limit nontarget effects of adulticide treatments and may help to address concerns related to potential nontarget effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wasps are understudied in their contribution to pollination services. In order to better understand the ecological contribution of wasp communities to plant pollination, we conducted three studies to compare bees and wasps by (1) the plant communities visited in agricultural and prairie environments, (2) body pollen composition as an indirect measure of pollination and (3) a single‐visit deposition study as a direct measure of pollination in the plant species complex Solidago canadensis.We found wasps visit a distinct early‐blooming exotic plant community from bees but have overlapping use of late‐blooming native plants and similar network interaction metrics. This suggests wasps may fill an ecological niche distinct from bees, while also serving as common native plant visitors. We also found that body pollen density and pollen fidelity in four and five (out of six) wasp families, respectively, were comparable to or greater than the bee family Colletidae. Three wasp families also showed comparable to or greater visit fidelity than two (out of five) bee families examined. These results suggest wasps may carry and potentially deliver substantial pollen to specific plants. In addition, controlled single‐visit deposition revealed the paper wasp Polistes fuscatus deposits a similar amount of pollen grains as the bumble bee Bombus impatiens, suggesting surprisingly high pollination efficiency that warrants further investigation.Our multi‐pronged study shows the importance of investigating the role of wasps as pollinators, especially by focusing on direct plant‐pollination metrics to determine wasp pollination efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bees play an important role in agriculture and ecology, and their pollination efficiency is essential to the economic profitability of farms. The drastic decrease in bee populations witnessed over the last decade has attracted great attention to automated remote beehive monitoring research, with beehive acoustics analysis emerging as a prominent field. In this paper, we review the existing literature on bee acoustics analysis and report on the articles published between January 2012 and December 2021. Five categories are explored in further detail, including the origin of the articles, their study goal, experimental setup, audio analysis methodology, and reproducibility. Highlights and limitations in each of these categories are presented and discussed. We conclude with a set of recommendations for future studies, with suggestions ranging from bee species characterization, to recording and testing setup descriptions, to making data and codes available to help advance this new multidisciplinary field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genetic studies provide valuable data to inform conservation strategies for species with small or declining populations. In these circumstances, obtaining DNA samples without harming the study organisms is highly desirable. Excrements are increasingly being used as a source of DNA in such studies, but such approaches have rarely been applied to arthropods. Bumblebees are ecologically and economically important as pollinators; however, some species have recently suffered severe declines and range contractions across much of Western Europe and North America. We investigated whether bumblebee faeces could be used for the extraction of DNA suitable for genotyping using microsatellite markers. We found that DNA could be extracted using a Chelex method from faecal samples collected either in microcapillary tubes or on filter paper, directly from captured individuals. Our results show that genotypes scored from faecal samples are identical to those from tissue samples. This study describes a reliable, consistent and efficient noninvasive method of obtaining DNA from bumblebees for use in population genetic studies. This approach should prove particularly useful in breeding and conservation programs for bumblebees and may be broadly applicable across insect taxa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neonicotinoid insecticides can have sub‐lethal effects on bees which has led to calls from conservationists for a global ban. In contrast, agrochemical companies argue that neonicotinoids do not harm honeybees at field‐realistic levels. However, the focus on honeybees neglects the potential impact on other bee species. We conducted a meta‐analysis to assess whether field‐realistic neonicotinoid exposure has sub‐lethal effects on non‐Apis bees. We extracted data from 53 papers (212 effects sizes) and found that it largely consisted of two genera: bumblebees (Bombus) and mason bees (Osmia), highlighting a substantial taxonomic knowledge gap. Neonicotinoid exposure negatively affected reproductive output across all bees and impaired bumblebee colony growth and foraging. Neonicotinoids also reduced Bombus, but not Osmia, individual development (growth and body size). Our results suggest that restrictions on neonicotinoids should benefit bee populations and highlight that the current regulatory process does not safeguard pollinators from the unwanted consequences of insecticide use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The low number of pollinating insects is the limiting factor for entomophilous plants in the north, and the situation is exacerbated by a short growing season and often unfavorable weather conditions for their life. The paper presents the results of studying the complex of pollinators of the specialized melittophilic species Veronica spicata at the northern limit of its distribution. It is shown that the structure of this complex is determined by the structural features of V. spicata flowers, the latitudinal position, and the differentiation of ecological niches of the species in the north. Unlike other parts of the range, where solitary bees play an important role in the pollination of V. spicata, this function in the north is performed by representatives of the genus Bombus Latr. (Hymenoptera, Apidae). Considering the level of species diversity and population structure, the pollinator complex of V. spicata is based on short proboscis species of bumblebees: Bombus lucorum s.l., B. jonellus, B. pratorum, B. sporadicus, and medium proboscis B. pascuorum. In accordance with the differentiation of ecological niches of V. spicata in the north, differences in the structure of the pollinator complex and foraging strategies of bumblebees were revealed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bumble bees are among the most imperiled pollinators. However, habitat use, especially nest site selection, remains relatively unknown. Methods to locate nests are invaluable to better understand habitat requirements and monitor wild populations. Building on prior study findings, we report constraints and possibilities observed while training detection dogs to locate bumble bee nests. Three conservation detection dogs were initially trained to three species of bumble bee nest material, first within glass jars concealed in a row of cinder blocks, then placed in the open or partially hidden for area searches. The next intended training step was to expose the dogs to natural nests located by community science volunteers. However, significant effort (> 250 hrs), yielded only two confirmed, natural nests suitable for dog training purposes. Although the dogs did not progress past the formative training stage valuable insight was gained. Maximum observed detection distance for bumble bee nest material during initial controlled training was 15 m, which decreased significantly (< 1 m) once training progressed to buried samples and natural nests. Three main considerations around future training and usage of detection dogs were identified. First, dogs might benefit from transitional training via exposures to known natural nests, regardless of species. However, it may be too difficult for people to find natural nests for this, and prior work demonstrated the ability of dogs to generalize and find natural nests after testing to artificially-buried nest material. Second, confirming a dog's nest find, via resident bee presence, is nuanced. Third, future study design and objectives must harness strengths, and reflect limitations of detection dog surveys and search strategies, as extensively discussed in this paper. Prospective studies involving detection dogs for locating bumble bee nests would benefit from considering the drawbacks and opportunities discussed and can mitigate limitations through incorporating these considerations in their study design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When the paper V. Prokopov, S. Alexeyev, and O. Zenin, J. Exp. Theor. Phys. 135, 91 (2022) was already published, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) obtained the first direct image of a black hole in the center of our galaxy, i.e. Sagittarius A* (see The Event Horizon Telescope Collab., Astrophys. J. Lett. 930 (L17) (2022)). Here we state that the results obtained earlier in the paper V. Prokopov, S. Alexeyev, and O. Zenin, J. Exp. Theor. Phys. 135, 91 (2022) for the Horndesky model with the Gauss-Bonnet invariant, loop quantum gravity, scalar bumblebee model, Gauss–Bonnet gravity and conformal gravity are in the agreement with Sgr A* observations. The new observational data limit the values of the parameter α in f(Q) gravity: –0.025 < α < 0.005. For the alternative generalization of the bumblebee metric with the Schwarzschild approximation, the constraint transfers to –0.05 < l < 0.45. The obtained limits demonstrate the maximum that can be achieved without taking into account the black hole rotation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provides tips on whether stinging insects are beneficial to the environment and to garden. Behavior of paper wasps; Nonaggressivenes of bumblebees; Use of vacuum to remove hornet nests.

Copyright of Didáctica. Lengua y Literatura is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Insect pollinators are a key component of biodiversity; they also play a major role in the reproduction of many species of wild plants and crops. It is widely acknowledged that insect pollinators are threatened by many environmental pressures, mostly of anthropogenic nature. Their decline is a global phenomenon. A better understanding of their distribution can help their monitoring and ultimately facilitate conservation actions. Since we only have partial knowledge of where pollinator species occur, the possibility to predict suitable environmental conditions from scattered species records can facilitate not only species monitoring, but also the identification of areas potentially vulnerable to pollinators decline. This data paper contains the predicted distribution of 47 species of bumblebees across the 28 Member States of the European Union (EU-28). Amongst the wild pollinators, bumblebees are one of the major groups contributing to the production of many crop species, hence their decline in Europe, North America and Asia can potentially threaten food security. Predictions were derived from distribution models, using species records with a spatial resolution of 10 km accessed from a central repository. Predictions were based on records from 1991 to 2012 and on a series of spatial environmental predictors from three main thematic areas: land use and land cover, climate and topography. These distributions were used to estimate the value of pollination as an ecosystem service. In light of the recent European Pollinators Initiative, this paper provides valuable information for a better understanding of where wild pollinators occur and it should be extended to other pollinator species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bumblebees are one among the anthophilous form and play a significant role in the pollination of major agricultural crops like medicinal, aromatic, ornamental and various other horticultural plants. They are abundant and mostly confined to flowers present in the temperate, alpine and arctic climates of the northern continents. The bumblebees are considered as most important pollinators and are mainly responsible for the conservation of high altitude vegetation germplasm where other insect pollinators are very much limited. They are more successful pollinators and can visit large number of flowers per minute than other bees and are perfect for picking up and transferring appreciable amount of compatible pollen to flowers and thus perform buzz pollination. It is quite evident that the population of bumblebee is gradually declining throughout the globe for the last 7 decades due to agricultural intensification, habitat loss, deforestation, overgrazing, pesticide poisoning and climate change. The present paper addresses this issue on the basis of literature survey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper characterizes the value of biodiversity and ecosystem resilience by formalizing a stochastic dynamic bioeconomic model of pollinator diversity under climate changes, with an application to oil rapeseed production in the Stockholm region of Sweden. It studies the optimal provision of semi-natural habitat for two different pollinator bee species: bumble bees and solitary wild bees. It is found that, despite being less effective, solitary bees hold considerable resilience value due to the differences in how the two species respond to temperature shocks. The paper also discusses the role of spatial aspects, in particular the reduced pollination effectiveness due to spatially uneven allocation of semi-natural habitats. It is found that spatial unevenness leads to an increase in the habitat provision, with an attendant reduction in the resilience value of solitary bees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In species distribution modelling, records of species presence are often modelled as a realization of a spatial point process whose intensity is a function of environmental covariates. One way to fit a spatial point process model is to apply logistic regression to an artificial case–control sample consisting of the observed presence records combined with a simulated pattern of background points, usually a uniform random sample from within the study's spatial domain. In this paper we propose local background sampling as an alternative to uniform background sampling when using logistic regression to fit spatial point process models to data. Our method is similar to the local case–control sampling procedure of Fithian and Hastie (Ann Appl Stat 42:1693–1724, 2014), but differs in that background points are sampled with probability proportional to an initial intensity estimate based on a pilot point process model. We compare local background sampling with uniform background sampling in a simulation study and in an example modelling the distributions of bumble bees (genus Bombus) in Ontario, Canada. Our results show local background sampling to be more efficient than uniform background sampling in all simulated settings and across all species analysed. Supplementary materials accompanying this paper appear online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Internet of Things (IoT) defines the network of physical objects, commonly used to interconnect and communicate with other devices through the internet. Security is highly essential in IoT based communication owing to the massive heterogeneity of devices involved in the network. The interlinked systems in IoT, requires the trusted model for assuring security, authenticity, authorization and confidentiality of interconnected things, irrespective of the functionalities. Considering the challenges in the provision of security in the IoT network, this paper proposes a new chaotic bumble bees mating optimization (CBBMO) algorithm for secure data transmission with trust sensing model, called CBBMOR-TSM model. The BBMO is stimulated by the mating nature of a swarm of bumble bees. To improve the convergence rate of the BBMO technique, the CBBMO model is defined by the integration of chaotic concept into the classical BBMO technique. The aim of the proposed model is to design a trust sensing model and perform secure routing using the CBMO algorithm. The proposed model initially designs a trust sensing model by incorporating indirect and direct trusts that are utilized to determine the trust values of the IoT nodes and thereby the malicious node can be identified. In addition, the secure routing process is invoked using the CMBO algorithm by using the trust sensing model to determine an optimal and secure path for data transmission. To examine the superior performance of the presented method, an extensive set of experiments are performed and the results are investigated in terms of different measures. The CBBMOR-TSM model has attained a higher average PDR of 0.931 and lower average PLR of 0.069 whereas the TRM_IOT, OSEAP_IOT and MCTAR-IOT methods have achieved a maximum PLR of 0.219, 0.161 and 0.110 respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Swarm Intelligence methodologies have been generally utilized in specialist area of WSNs. It is a generally new and successful domain, concentrating on the adjustment of total practices of different common organisms such as fish, ants, bumble bees, and birds, and also a lot of routing WSNs protocols have been produced in agreement with the stimulus out of the species searching practices. In this work standard guideline of swarm intelligence has been considered. The critical emergency in WSN is the network period. To encourage adaptability, nodes are consistently framed as cluster having a head, called cluster head (CH). CH is in charge for transmitting data to the base station and guides regular nodes to transmit detected information to target nodes. Energy use of CH is higher than the basic nodes. Thus, CH determination will irritate WSN period. In this work, different methods have been examined for CH selection to utilize swarm intelligence. The ultimate objective of this review is to have detailed examination over various SI approaches to show their ability to select CH. Finally, we complete the paper with a near examination, bringing up the essential difficulties and potential future guidelines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To understand bee distributions in Japan, we started the citizen science program "Hanamaru‐Maruhana national census (Bumble bee national census in English)" from 2013, and collected bee photographs taken by citizens. Bee photographs were collected via e‐mail or "Mobile Phone System and Cloud Services" provided by Fujitsu FIP, Co. Species were identified from photographic images, and latitude‐longitude data were extracted from GPS data in Exif information of photographs or address in text of e‐mail. We have confirmed all 16 bumble bee species inhabiting in the Japanese archipelago excluding the Kurile Islands, and have got 5503 records of these bumble bees. In addition, we have got 380 records of three carpenter bee species that are often mistaken for bumble bees by citizens. This occurrence data cover the time range from September 2006 to October 2018, the latitudinal range from 26.45 to 45.29 and the longitudinal range from 127.80 to 145.82. The latitude–longitude data were rounded off to two decimal places in the published dataset for protecting privacy rights of citizens. In addition, the latitude–longitude data of five rare bumble bee species/subspecies were rounded off to one decimal place for protecting their habitats. The complete data set for this abstract published in the Data Paper section of the journal is available in electronic format in MetaCat in JaLTER at http://db.cger.nies.go.jp/JaLTER/metacat/metacat/ERDP-2021-04.1/jalter-en. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper delves into the intriguing topic of the thermal stability of black holes (BHs) in the unique framework of bumblebee gravity. Our analysis primarily focuses on thermodynamic stability by examining the event horizon, black hole mass, thermal temperature and heat capacity. Additionally, we explore the intricacies of thermodynamic geometries such as Ruppeiner and Weinhold formulations and calculate their respective scalar curvatures in the context of bumblebee gravity. In our investigation, we also delve into the concept of phase transition through Gibbs free energy and the fascinating phenomenon of BH evaporation by energy emission. This research provides valuable insights into the complex thermodynamic properties of BHs and enhances our understanding of bumblebee gravity. We study the bosonic tunneling with spin-1 tunneling radiation in BHs. Initially, the generalized uncertainty principle (GUP) was used to correct the field equation (FE) for vector particles with spin-1 and demonstrate that the Hawking temperature rises with an improvement in the GUP and the radial component of the vector field but is unaffected by the radial components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supporting managed honey bees by pasturing in natural landscapes has come under review due to concerns that honey bees could negatively impact the survival of wild bees through competition for floral resources. Critique and assessment of the existing body of published literature against our criteria focussing on studies that can support best management resulted in 19 experimental papers. Indirect measures of competition examining foraging patterns and behavior yielded equivocal results. Direct measures of reproduction and growth were investigated in only seven studies, with six indicating negative impacts to wild bees from the presence of managed honey bees. Three of these studies examined fitness impacts to Bombus Latreille and all three indicated reduced growth or reduced reproductive output. Because there is a severe lack of literature, yet potential that honey bee presence could negatively impact wild bees, exemplified with bumble bee studies, we advocate for further research into the fitness impacts of competition between managed and wild pollinators. Conservative approaches should be taken with respect to pasturing honey bees on natural lands with sensitive bumble bee populations. Correspondingly, forage opportunities for honey bees in managed, agricultural landscapes, should be increased in an effort to reduce potential pressure and infringement on wild bee populations in natural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bombus terrestris is a bumblebee with a wide geographic range, with subspecies showing a variety of local adaptations. Global export of commercially-reared B. terrestris started in the 1980s; the bees are a mixture of subspecies bred for ease of rearing, bivoltinism and large nests. This paper investigated whether the increase in bivoltinism in UK resident B. terrestris audax populations was related to introgression with imported foreign subspecies. Workers were collected from wild populations in London and Bristol, as well as two commercial suppliers. Fourteen microsatellite loci were used to study population structure, hybridisation and introgression. No introgression with commercial B. t. dalmatinus was detected in wild populations. Hence, the increase in winter activity appears unrelated to introgression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gyrocheilos is a small genus of Gesneriaceae endemic to hight altitude mountains in Southwest China and Guangdong Province, with only five species. This genus is characterized by laterally bending style, which curves 90° at the top of the style and the stigma right at the mouth of floral tube. This unusual floral trait may have special evolutionary and adaptive mechanisms. In this paper, three Gyrocheilos species, i.e. G. chorisepalus, G. retrotrichus, G. microtrichus were examined to figure out the developmental patterns of floral lateral bending. Breeding systems, floral syndrome and pollination processes were also studied in G. retrotrichus at Dawuling Mountain, Guangdong Province, to explore its pollination adaptations. The results were as follows: (1) G. microtrichus had only left-bending style, while right-bending style were observed in several flowers (2% -3% of the total flowers) of G. chorisepalus and G. retrotrichus, although the individuals and populations were dominated by left-bending style. (2) Pollination observation found that style lateral bending occurred at the early stage of floral bud in G. retrotrichus, with two fertile stamens were anther-united and hidden at the middle of the floral throat, and there was no left and right mirror symmetry relationship with the lateral style. (3) The pollen-ovule ratio (P/O) was (456.98 ± 15.55), belonging to facultative outcross breeding system. G. retrotrichus had a certain pollen limitation and self-pollination, but the germination rate of outcross seeds was higher, and there might be inbreeding decline. (4) There were few floral visitors and the frequency was low of G. retrotrichus. The main floral visitors were Halictidae, Bombus and Syrphidae. Bombus were large, and they landed on the bent style and the lower lip of the petals when visiting flowers. The side and lower part of the chest could effectively contact the stigma. (5) The detected reflected lights of flowers were composed of purple and blue-purple lights and the lower lips and outer floral tube with the highest reflection intensity, more likely to attract bees to land on the corolla's lower lip. Molecular phylogeny indicated that the closest genus of Gyrocheilos was Didymorcarpus, which was characterized by style downward bending and mirror-image flowers, suggesting the style lateral bending in Gyrocheilos probably evolved from either of these conditions. In conclusion, the lateral bending style might provide landing platform for pollinators and the stigma above the lower lips increase contact probability the floral visitors, which is an adaptation to the very low insect visitation due to fragmented and foggy habitats in high altitude areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is shown that the paper "Greybody radiation and quasinormal modes of Kerr-like black hole in Bumblebee gravity model" (Kanzi and Sakallı in Eur Phys J C 81:501, 2021) recently published in this journal is based on an incorrect result obtained by Ding et al. (Eur Phys J C 80:178, 2020) for a Kerr-like black hole solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Standalone microgrid with hybrid wind-PV-fuel cell renewable energy resources is necessary to meet the power demand in remote areas where the utility grid is not available. Renewable energy resources are erratic, (i.e.) sudden changes in the climatic condition generates variable output voltage that affects the reliability of the power electronics system providing voltage stress, switching losses and deliver harmonic deviation. Hybrid PV-wind-fuel cell provides multiple conversion stages, which reduces the efficiency of the system. In order to overcome this issue, this paper proposes new dc-dc boost converter for improving voltage gain and a predictive exogenous Kalman filter with fuzzy controller (PEKF) employed with bumble bee selective harmonic elimination-pulse width modulation for reducing the harmonic and maintains the system at steady state and also a cascaded 9-level H-bridge converter is utilized that operates at high voltage with stress per switching at lower voltage, higher efficiency and low electromagnetic interferences. The PEKF controller is utilized to predict the state and to improve power sharing injected by renewable energy resources. To show the effectiveness of the proposed scheme, simulations are done in working platform MATLAB/SIMULINK environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phenotypic polymorphism can constitute an inherent challenge for species delimitation. This issue is exemplified in bumble bees (Bombus), where species can exhibit high colour variation across their range, but otherwise exhibit little morphological variation to distinguish them from close relatives. We examine the species status of one of the most abundant North American bumble bees, Bombus bifarius Cresson, which historically comprised two major taxa, bifarius s.s. and nearcticus. These lineages are recognized primarily by red and black variation in their mid‐abdominal coloration; however, a continuum from black (nearcticus) to red (bifarius s.s.) variation has led to their historic synonymization. Integrating mitochondrial and nuclear data and whole‐genome sequencing, we reveal a high level of both mitochondrial and nuclear divergence delimiting two morphologically cryptic species – the red bifarius s.s. and the colour‐variable (black to red) nearcticus. Population genomic analysis supports an absence of recent genomic admixture and a strong population structure between the two clades, even in sympatry. Species distribution models predict partially differentiated niches between the genetically inferred clades with annual precipitation being a leading differentiating variable. The bifarius s.s. lineage also occupies significantly higher elevations, with regions of sympatry being among the highest elevations in nearcticus. Our data also support a subspecies‐level divergence between the broadly distributed nearcticus and the island population vancouverensis. In this paper, we formally recognize the two species, Bombus bifarius Cresson and Bombus vancouverensis Cresson, the latter including the subspecies B. vancouverensis vancouverensiscomb.n. and B. vancouverensis nearcticuscomb.n., with vancouverensis the name bearer due to year priority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, many bumble bee species have declined due to changes in habitat, climate, and pressures from pathogens, pesticides, and introduced species. The western bumble bee (Bombus occidentalis), once common throughout western North America, is a species of concern and will be considered for listing by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). We attempt to improve alignment of data collection and research with USFWS needs to consider redundancy, resiliency, and representation in the upcoming species status assessment. We reviewed existing data and literature on B. occidentalis, highlighting information gaps and priority topics for research. Priorities include increased knowledge of trends, basic information on several life-history stages, and improved understanding of the relative and interacting effects of stressors on population trends, especially the effects of pathogens, pesticides, climate change, and habitat loss. An understanding of how and where geographic range extent has changed for the two subspecies of B. occidentalisis also needed. We outline data that could be easily collected in other research projects that would increase their utility for understanding range-wide trends of bumble bees. We modeled the overall trend in occupancy from 1998 to 2018 of Bombus occidentalis with in the continental United States using existing data. The probability of local occupancy declined by93% over 21 yr from 0.81 (95% CRI = 0.43, 0.98) in 1998 to 0.06 (95% CRI = 0.02, 0.16) in 2018. The decline in occupancy varied spatially by land cover and other environmental factors. Detection rates vary in both space and time, but peak detection across the continental United States occurs in mid-July. We found considerable spatial gaps in recent sampling, with limited sampling in many regions, including most of Alaska, northwestern Canada, and the southwestern United States. We therefore propose a sampling design to address these gaps to best inform the ESA species status assessment through improved assessment of how the spatial distribution of stressors influences occupancy changes. Finally, we request involvement via data sharing, participation in occupancy sampling with repeated visits to distributed survey sites, and complementary research to address priorities outlined in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Boletín de la Asociación Española de Entomología is the property of Asociacion Espanola de Entomologia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Body size is arguably one of the most important traits influencing the physiology and ecology of animals. Shifts in animal body size have been observed in response to climate change, including in bumble bees (Bombus spp. [Hymenoptera: Apidae]). Bumble bee size shifts have occurred concurrently with the precipitous population declines of several species, which appear to be related, in part, to their size. Body size variation is central to the ecology of bumble bees, from their social organization to the pollination services they provide to plants. If bumble bee size is shifted or constrained, there may be consequences for the pollination services they provide and for our ability to predict their responses to global change. Yet, there are still many aspects of the breadth and role of bumble bee body size variation that require more study. To this end, we review the current evidence of the ecological drivers of size variation in bumble bees and the consequences of that variation on bumble bee fitness, foraging, and species interactions. In total we review: (1) the proximate determinants and physiological consequences of size variation in bumble bees; (2) the environmental drivers and ecological consequences of size variation; and (3) synthesize our understanding of size variation in predicting how bumble bees will respond to future changes in climate and land use. As global change intensifies, a better understanding of the factors influencing the size distributions of bumble bees, and the consequences of those distributions, will allow us to better predict future responses of these pollinators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global climate change disrupts key ecological processes and biotic interactions. The recent increase in heatwave frequency and severity prompts the evaluation of physiological processes that ensure the maintenance of vital ecosystem services such as pollination. We used experimental heatwaves to determine how high temperatures affect the bumblebees' ability to detect floral scents. Heatwaves induced strong reductions in antennal responses to floral scents in both tested bumblebee species (Bombus terrestris and Bombus pascuorum). These reductions were generally stronger in workers than in males. Bumblebees showed no consistent pattern of recovery 24 h after heat events. Our results suggest that the projected increased frequency and severity of heatwaves may jeopardize bumblebee-mediated pollination services by disrupting the chemical communication between plants and pollinators. The reduced chemosensitivity can decrease the bumblebees' abilities to locate food sources and lead to declines in colonies and populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Despite being among the most abundant biological entities on earth, bacteriophage (phage) remain an understudied component of host-associated systems. One limitation to studying host-associated phage is the lack of consensus on methods for sampling phage communities. Here, we compare paired total metagenomes and viral size fraction metagenomes (viromes) as methods for investigating the dsDNA viral communities associated with the GI tract of two bee species: the European honey bee Apis mellifera and the eastern bumble bee Bombus impatiens. Results: We find that viromes successfully enriched for phage, thereby increasing phage recovery, but only in honey bees. In contrast, for bumble bees, total metagenomes recovered greater phage diversity. Across both bee species, viromes better sampled low occupancy phage, while total metagenomes were biased towards sampling temperate phage. Additionally, many of the phage captured by total metagenomes were absent altogether from viromes. Comparing between bees, we show that phage communities in commercially reared bumble bees are significantly reduced in diversity compared to honey bees, likely reflecting differences in bacterial titer and diversity. In a broader context, these results highlight the complementary nature of total metagenomes and targeted viromes, especially when applied to host-associated environments. Conclusions: Overall, we suggest that studies interested in assessing total communities of host-associated phage should consider using both approaches. However, given the constraints of virome sampling, total metagenomes may serve to sample phage communities with the understanding that they will preferentially sample dominant and temperate phage. 6S3bFgh36a8k5RNed1PpF4 Video Abstract [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Working in lowbush blueberry fields, we studied how to provide a holistic measure of pesticide exposure to bees. Several different taxa of bees can be involved in blueberry pollination, including honey bees, bumble bees (which are native), and other native bees, such as mason, mining, and leafcutter bees. Using chemical analysis, we compared and contrasted samples from different sources to (1) measure pesticide exposure and (2) predict exposure risk in light of established levels of concern established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. We trapped honey bee pollen as foragers entered the hive and, within the three years of the study, found considerable similarity of these samples to treated flowers; the measures were the number and concentration of pesticide residues, as well as the predicted level of risk. We found differences among two or three of these measures when comparing trapped honey bee pollen and trapped mason bee pollen, as well as between trapped honey bee pollen and whole bodies of captured honey bees. In these comparisons, the number of residues detected in honey bee pollen was typically greater, as was the estimated risk. The residues found when comparing whole body analysis of honey bee workers, bumble bee queens, and other native bees showed similarity in total residue concentrations and risk, but there was a higher number of different residues detected on honey bees. This research complements another study (Part I) focused on honey bee pollen trapping in lowbush blueberry and cranberry. Both studies provide a toxicological baseline for pesticide residue exposure to pollinators in the lowbush blueberry agroecosystem. In lowbush blueberry fields, we conducted residue analysis comparing flowers, trapped pollen (honey bee and Osmia spp.), and collected bees (honey bee workers, bumble bee queens, and non-Bombus spp. wild native bees). The study was conducted from 2012 to 2014. The number of pesticide residues, total concentrations, and risk to honey bees (Risk Quotient) on flowers were not significantly different from those determined for trapped honey bee pollen (except in one study year when residues detected in flower samples were significantly lower than residue numbers detected in trapped pollen). The compositions of residues were similar on flowers and trapped pollen. The number of residues detected in honey bee pollen was significantly greater than the number detected in Osmia spp. pollen, while the total concentration of residue was not different between the two types of pollen. The risk to honey bees was higher in trapped honey bee pollen than in trapped Osmia spp. pollen. The analysis of honey bee workers, native bumble bee queens, and native solitary bees showed that although more pesticide residues were detected on honey bee workers, there were no differences among the bee taxa in total residue concentrations or risk (as estimated in terms of risk to honey bees). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Insects rely on path integration (vector-based navigation) and landmark guidance to perform sophisticated navigational feats, rivaling those seen in mammals. Bees in particular exhibit complex navigation behaviors including creating optimal routes and novel shortcuts between locations, an ability historically indicative of the presence of a cognitive map. A mammalian cognitive map has been widely accepted. However, in insects, the existence of a centralized cognitive map is highly contentious. Using a controlled laboratory assay that condenses foraging behaviors to short distances in walking bumblebees, we reveal that vectors learned during path integration can be transferred to long-term memory, that multiple such vectors can be stored in parallel, and that these vectors can be recalled at a familiar location and used for homeward navigation. These findings demonstrate that bees meet the two fundamental requirements of a vector-based analog of a decentralized cognitive map: Home vectors need to be stored in long-term memory and need to be recalled from remembered locations. Thus, our data demonstrate that bees possess the foundational elements for a vector-based map. By utilizing this relatively simple strategy for spatial organization, insects may achieve high-level navigation behaviors seen in vertebrates with the limited number of neurons in their brains, circumventing the computational requirements associated with the cognitive maps of mammals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flight plays a crucial role in the fitness of insect pollinators, such as bumblebees. Despite their relatively large body size compared with their wings, bumblebees can fly under difficult ambient conditions, such as cooler temperatures. While their body size is often positively linked to their foraging range and flight ability, the influence of age remains less explored. Here, we studied the flight performance (distance, duration and speed) of ageing bumblebee workers using tethered flight mills. Additionally, we measured their intertegular distance and dry mass as proxies for their body size. We found that the flight distance and duration were predominantly influenced by age, challenging assumptions that age does not play a key role in foraging and task allocation. From the age of 7 to 14 days, flight distance and duration increased sixfold and fivefold, respectively. Conversely, the body size primarily impacted the maximum and average flight speed of workers. Our findings indicate that age substantially influences the flight distance and duration in bumblebee workers, affecting foraging performance and potentially altering task allocation strategies. This underscores the importance of considering individual age and physiological changes alongside body size/mass in experiments involving bumblebee workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes a genome assembly and annotation for Bombus dahlbomii , the giant Patagonian bumble bee. DNA from a single, haploid male collected in Argentina was used for PacBio (HiFi) sequencing, and Hi-C technology was then used to map chromatin contacts. Using Juicer and manual curation, the genome was scaffolded into 18 main pseudomolecules, representing a high-quality, near chromosome-level assembly. The sequenced genome size is estimated at 265 Mb. The genome was annotated based on RNA sequencing data of another male from Argentina, and BRAKER3 produced 15,767 annotated genes. The genome and annotation show high completeness, with >95% BUSCO scores for both the genome and annotated genes (based on conserved genes from Hymenoptera). This genome provides a valuable resource for studying the biology of this iconic and endangered species, as well as for understanding the impacts of its decline and designing strategies for its preservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Animals often make decisions without perfect knowledge of environmental parameters like the quality of an encountered food patch or a potential mate. Theoreticians often assume animals make such decisions using a Bayesian updating process that combines prior information about the frequency distribution of resources in the environment with sample information from an encountered resource; such a process leads to decisions that maximize fitness, given the available information. I examine three aspects of empirical work that shed light on the idea that animals can make such decisions in a Bayesian‐like manner. First, many animals are sensitive to variance differences in behavioral options, one metric used to characterize frequency distributions. Second, several species use information about the relative frequency of preferred versus nonpreferred items in different populations to make probabilistic inferences about samples taken from populations in a manner that results in maximizing the likelihood of obtaining a preferred reward. Third, the predictions of Bayesian models often match the behavior of individuals in two main approaches. One approach compares behavior to models that make different assumptions about how individuals estimate the quality of an environmental parameter. The patch exploitation behavior of nine species of birds and mammals has matched the predictions of Bayesian models. The other approach compares the behavior of individuals who learn, through experience, different frequency distributions of resources in their environment. The behavior of three bird species and bumblebees exploiting food patches and fruit flies selecting mates is influenced by their experience learning different frequency distributions of food and mates, respectively, in ways consistent with Bayesian models. These studies lend support to the idea that animals may combine prior and sample information in a Bayesian‐like manner to make decisions under uncertainty, but additional work on a greater diversity of species is required to better understand the generality of this ability. I examine empirical work that sheds light on the idea that animals can make decisions in a Bayesian‐like manner. I show evidence that animals are sensitive to variation in reward options and can make probabilistic inferences, two foundations of Bayesian‐like estimation. I also show that Bayesian models often predict the behavior of individuals in different environmental contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empirical studies of annual eusocial insects in agricultural landscapes report contrasting findings with regard to colony responses to mass‐flowering of crops such as oilseed rape. In particular, total sexual production is often unaffected by such events, whereas worker number responds with a prominent increase.To resolve these conflicting observations, we model—using an established approach—the expected change in worker and sexual numbers in response to an increased worker productivity induced by mass‐flowering events at different times of the season.We find that the predicted response pattern is mainly shaped by the degree to which individual worker productivity is reduced by an increasing number of workers in the colony. Different environmental conditions and colony characteristics result in different levels of interference of workers, for example, during foraging or nest construction. Reduction in individual productivity is low, when worker interference is negligible ("weak limitation") and high when an increasing number of workers substantially decreases per‐capita efficiency ("strong limitation"). For weak limitation, any mass‐flowering event that ends before the production of sexuals starts has a strong multiplicative impact on both worker and sexual numbers. The magnitude of the effect is quite independent of the precise timing of such an event. After the onset of sexual production, mass‐flowering has a weaker effect, as the added resource supply is only linearly transferred into production of additional sexuals.For colonies under strong limitation, the predicted impact of mass‐flowering events is generally weaker, especially on the production of sexuals, and the timing of mass‐flowering events becomes more influential: Production of sexuals profits more from late than from early mass‐flowering events. Consequently, early mass‐flowering events are predicted to have a prominent effect on worker numbers but a negligible one on the output of sexuals.The model presented provides a mechanistic explanation of why increased worker abundances do not necessarily translate into increased production of sexuals. The model is also applicable to other eusocial insects such as paper wasps whenever brief pulses of massive resource availability shortly elevate resource intake rates above the "normal" levels. The authors present a simple model to provide explanation for some (seemingly) contradictory observations in regard to the response of flower‐visiting (annual) social insects to "mass‐flowering events," for example, flowering of oilseed rape, that increasingly occur in agricultural landscapes. The mass‐flowering phenomenon has raised suspicions that pollinator shortage might impair production of crops, in particular also in the context of ongoing climate change. They are able to elucidate the great importance of the timing of mass‐flowering events (with respect to the colonies' life cycle) and why mass‐flowering events may result in a noticeable increase in worker number but have little effect on the production of sexuals as has been observed in several empirical studies. The model is general enough to be applicable also to other social insects that are exposed to brief outbursts of greatly elevated resource availability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present novel dynamic mixture models for the monitoring of bumblebee populations on an unprecedented geographical scale, motivated by the UK citizen science scheme BeeWalk. The models allow us for the first time to estimate bumblebee phenology and within-season productivity, defined as the number of individuals in each caste per colony in the population in that year, from citizen science data. All of these parameters are estimated separately for each caste, giving a means of considerable ecological detail in examining temporal changes in the complex life cycle of a social insect in the wild. Due to the dynamic nature of the models, we are able to produce population trends for a number of UK bumblebee species using the available time-series. Via an additional simulation exercise, we show the extent to which useful information will increase if the survey continues, and expands in scale, as expected. Bumblebees are extraordinarily important components of the ecosystem, providing pollination services of vast economic impact and functioning as indicator species for changes in climate or land use. Our results demonstrate the changes in both phenology and productivity between years and provide an invaluable tool for monitoring bumblebee populations, many of which are in decline, in the UK and around the world. Supplementary materials accompanying this paper appear online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social bees represent an important group of pollinating insects that can be exposed to potentially harmful pesticides when foraging on treated or contaminated flowering plants. To investigate if such exposure is detrimental to bees, many studies have exclusively fed individuals with pesticide-spiked food, informing us about the hazard but not necessarily the risk of exposure. While such studies are important to establish the physiological and behavioural effects on individuals, they do not consider the possibility that the risk of exposure may change over time. For example, many pesticide assays exclude potential behavioural adaptations to novel toxins, such as rejection of harmful compounds by choosing to feed on an uncontaminated food source, thus behaviourally lowering the risk of exposure. In this paper, we conducted an experiment over 10 days in which bumblebees could forage on an array of sucrose feeders containing 0, 2 and 11 parts per billion of the neonicotinoid pesticide thiamethoxam. This more closely mimics pesticide exposure in the wild by allowing foraging bees to (i) experience a field realistic range of pesticide concentrations across a chronic exposure period, (ii) have repeated interactions with the pesticide in their environment, and (iii) retain the social cues associated with foraging by using whole colonies. We found that the proportion of visits to pesticide-laced feeders increased over time, resulting in greater consumption of pesticide-laced sucrose relative to untreated sucrose. After changing the spatial position of each feeder, foragers continued to preferentially visit the pesticide-laced feeders which indicates that workers can detect thiamethoxam and alter their behaviour to continue feeding on it. The increasing preference for consuming the neonicotinoid- treated food therefore increases the risk of exposure for the colony during prolonged pesticide exposure. Our results highlight the need to incorporate attractiveness of pesticides to foraging bees (and potentially other insect pollinators) in addition to simply considering the proportion of pesticide-contaminated floral resources within the foraging landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes and illustrates the egg, fifth, first, and fourth larval instars, as well as the female pupa of Bombus ( Cullumanobombus) griseocollis (DeGeer), all collected from a single nest in June 2017 in Wisconsin. In so doing, attempts are made to understand the biological significance of the anatomical and behavioral features of these various life stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The distinctive, large bumblebeeBombus tanguticusMorawitz was described from yellow-banded queens (females) collected from high elevations on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) by Nikolay Przhevalsky’s fourth Central Asia expedition. One of Morawitz’s syntype females is designated here as lectotype. Because of the distinctive female morphology, Pittioni placed the species in a subgenus of its own,Tanguticobombus. Surprisingly, in the 130 years since its description, and despite extensive sampling of bumblebees across the QTP, records for just seven more individuals ofB. tanguticushave been published, all queens. In this paper I report two recently collected workers (females) that extend the known distribution of the species and describe a new white-banded colour pattern from one of the workers. Available data on the species’ distribution are mapped, the location of the collecting site for the highest confirmed records of any bumblebees worldwide atc. 5640 m above sea level is discussed, and the closest relatives of the species identified, placing it in thelapidarius-group of the subgenusMelanobombusand most likely close to the EuropeanB. lapidarius. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]