Meeting Abstract
Behavioral Syndromes occur when behaviors are correlated together. Studying behavioral syndromes allows a more integrated view of behavior by recognizing that behaviors often don’t operate independently from one another and considers sources of behavioral variation both within and among individuals. The alfalfa leaf cutter bee, Megachile rotundata, constructs nests that require gathering leaf materials to form a linear series of cells, foraging for provisions, and making reproductive choices including offspring number, provisioning, and sex. Thus, nest construction may be an example of a behavioral syndrome that could be examined by measuring the architecture and composition of each nest. Our aim was to observe within and among-individual variation in multiple, distinct nest-constructing behaviors by examining features of M. rotundata nest architecture. We successfully identify three behavioral modules that constitute a nesting behavioral syndrome: nest protection, leaf foraging, and pollen/nectar provisioning. As an example, we found that the number of leaves invested into each nest cell is uncorrelated to the cell provisioning. This suggests that cell leaf foraging and provision foraging are independent behavioral components. Second, our results indicate that individual differences in nest-constructing behaviors account for 30% of the total phenotypic variation observed in the population and that individual females are tasked with tradeoff choices when expressing different behaviors. Thus, examining the architecture of nests can serve as an enlightening proxy for characterizing behaviors directing nest construction.
