Meeting Abstract
Circadian rhythm is an internal biological clock that controls nearly every aspect of life for all living things. Circadian rhythm has been previously studied in organisms ranging from Apis mellifera to humans; however, this was the first study to analyze the rhythms of both Systropha curvicornis and Systropha planidens. Both Systropha species were found together for the first time in Turkey, which indicates that geography is a strong component in the distribution of the species. A combination of over 120 S. curvicornis, S. planidens, and generalist, non-Apis mellifera bees were collected and placed into four TriKinetics activity monitoring system monitors. Meanwhile, the relationship between Systropha and Convolvulus flowers is studied to understand the circadian rhythm of Systropha. This is consistent with the idea that bees synchronize with the flowers that they forage at. Our finding that no S. planidens exhibited movement throughout the study, while a considerable fraction of S. curvicornis exhibited movement, may suggest a difference in foraging behavior. The three movement categories found in S. curvicornis indicate large variation of activity patterns in the population. If this variation is related to function or is random is unknown. Although there is variation in the activity pattern among the generalist population, their phase of movement is generally similar between each other and to the Systropha curvicornis. These findings have implications in adding to the knowledge of the circadian rhythms of specialists bees and also their behaviors.
