Meeting Abstract

P1.50  Thursday, Jan. 3  The untilization of micro and macronutrients during the devlopment of the mason bee Osmia MYERS, DD*; JUDD, TM; Southeast Missouri State University; Southeast Missouri State University ddmyers1s@semo.edu

Nutrient intake is essential to the proper development of every organism, enabling the organism to efficiently complete various stages needed to fulfill its life cycle. Osmia are solitary, univoltine, spring-flying mason bees that are named from their habit of making compartments of mud in their nests, which are made in hollow reeds or holes in wood made by wood burrowing insects. A female bee forms several individual compartments in the hole. Each compartment contains a single offspring and enough pollen and nectar to allow it to develop into an adult bee. Individuals will develop to adulthood inside their cell during the spring and early summer and remain in the cell until the following spring. Macro and micro nutrient intake in Osmia lignaria was quantified during several stages of development. The results were compared with nutrient intake quantities at every stage of development. Bees were collected using trapnests (wood blocks with holes dilled down the middle) and brought into the lab. Blocks were opened after collection and during different stages of development. Food and individuals were measured for amounts of carbohydrates, lipids and protein and levels of several ions. The results allowed us to calculate the nutritional value of the initial food source, the proportion of the original nutrients used during growth and development and the proportion of the original nutrients stored by the bee through adulthood.