Affiliation:
1. Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78703, USA
Abstract
Responses to climate change are particularly complicated in species that engage in symbioses, as the niche of one partner may be modified by that of the other. We explored thermal traits in gut symbionts of honeybees and bumblebees, which are vulnerable to rising temperatures.
In vitro
assays of symbiont strains isolated from 16 host species revealed variation in thermal niches. Strains from bumblebees tended to be less heat-tolerant than those from honeybees, possibly due to bumblebees maintaining cooler nests or inhabiting cooler climates. Overall, however, bee symbionts grew at temperatures up to 44°C and withstood temperatures up to 52°C, at or above the upper thermal limits of their hosts. While heat-tolerant, most strains of the symbiont
Snodgrassella
grew relatively slowly below 35°C, perhaps because of adaptation to the elevated body temperatures that bees maintain through thermoregulation. In a gnotobiotic bumblebee experiment,
Snodgrassella
was unable to consistently colonize bees reared at 29°C under conditions that limit thermoregulation. Thus, host thermoregulatory behaviour appears important in creating a warm microenvironment for symbiont establishment. Bee–microbiome–temperature interactions could affect host health and pollination services, and inform research on the thermal biology of other specialized gut symbionts.
Funder
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
National Institutes of Health
Subject
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences,General Environmental Science,General Immunology and Microbiology,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology,General Medicine
Cited by
29 articles.
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