Community Dynamics of Trap-Nesting Hymenoptera

Trap-nesting Hymenoptera encompass solitary bees and wasps that exploit pre-existing cavities to rear their offspring. These communities are structured by a complex interplay of bottom-up forces, such as floral and prey resource availability, and top-down pressures from predators and parasitoids. Seasonal and elevational gradients drive turnover in species composition and functional traits, leading to shifts in pollination versus predation roles through the year. Habitat characteristics—including canopy cover, microclimate, fragmentation and land-use intensity—further modulate species richness, network structure and parasitism rates. Understanding these dynamics has direct implications for the conservation of pollinators, the deployment of natural enemies in biological control, and the maintenance of ecosystem services under global change.

Research from Nature Portfolio

One study has quantified maladaptive host–prey interactions in solitary potter wasps that provision nests with caterpillars. Surveys revealed that a high proportion of nests contained prey already parasitised by gregarious parasitoids, leading to markedly reduced offspring survival and diminished pupal mass. The persistence of this behaviour appears linked to limited discrimination abilities of female wasps and trade-offs between selectivity and foraging efficiency in arid environments. This work emphasises the importance of fine-scale host–parasitoid dynamics in shaping trap-nesting communities.

Community Dynamics of Trap-Nesting Hymenoptera publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in community dynamics of trap-nesting hymenoptera across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Trap nest: An artificial cavity placed in the environment to attract and sample cavity-nesting insects.

Cavity-nesting Hymenoptera: Solitary bees and wasps that nest within pre-existing holes or tubes.

Parasitoid: An organism that develops by feeding on a single host individual, eventually leading to the host’s death.

Bottom-up regulation: Control of community structure by resource availability, such as prey or floral resources.

Top-down regulation: Influence on community dynamics through predation or parasitism by higher trophic levels.

Functional trait: A morphological or behavioural characteristic that influences an organism’s ecological role or performance.

Environmental DNA (eDNA): Genetic material shed by organisms into their environment, used for non-invasive species detection.

References

1. BEE‐quest of the nest: A novel method for eDNA‐based, nonlethal detection of cavity‐nesting hymenopterans and other arthropods. Environmental DNA (2023).
2. Frequency and consequences of the collection of already parasitized caterpillars by a potter wasp. Scientific Reports (2020).
3. Climate and food resources shape species richness and trophic interactions of cavity‐nesting Hymenoptera. Journal of Biogeography (2020).
4. Seasonal dynamics in a cavity-nesting bee-wasp community: Shifts in composition, functional diversity and host-parasitoid network structure. PLOS ONE (2018).
5. Multi-trophic communities re-establish with canopy cover and microclimate in a subtropical forest biodiversity experiment. Oecologia (2021).