In order to analyze the pollen resources used by the orchid bee Euglossa annectans, samples of larval provisions from cells under construction were taken from 12 different trap nests (wooden boxes) on Santa Catarina Island, southern Brazil. The 43 samples collected between 2002 and 2005 represented all months except December. Overall, 74 pollen types from 24 families were distinguished. Among t...

In order to improve convergence velocity and optimization accuracy of the cuckoo search (CS) algorithm for solving the function optimization problems, a new improved cuckoo search algorithm based on the repeat-cycle asymptotic self-learning and self-evolving disturbance (RC-SSCS) is proposed. A disturbance operation is added into the algorithm by constructing a disturbance factor to make a more...

The Persian Gulf islands are the nesting regions for the severely endangered hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) species. Therefore, the selection of the nesting habitat of this species in the two islands of Qeshm and Hengam was studied by a five-member working group in the spring of 2013 - 2015. Ultimately, 23 and 17 nests were identified in the south of Qeshm Island and in the south and...

Alarm communication is a key adaptation that helps social groups resist predation and rally defenses. In Asia, the world’s largest hornet, Vespa mandarinia, and the smaller hornet, Vespa velutina, prey upon foragers and nests of the Asian honey bee, Apis cerana. We attacked foragers and colony nest entrances with these predators and provide the first evidence, in social insects, of an alarm sig...

The deposition of antimicrobial plant resins in honey bee, Apis mellifera, nests has important physiological benefits. Resin foraging is difficult to approach experimentally because resin composition is highly variable among and between plant families, the environmental and plant-genotypic effects on resins are unknown, and resin foragers are relatively rare and often forage in unobservable tre...

Harvester ants are known as one of the most renowned bio-disturbances in the arid and semi-arid ecosystems that affecte vegetation by collecting seeds and harvesting plants. It seems that physiognomy of plant association in steppe shrub land of Roodshoor, Saveh, Iran has been highly changed by harvester ants’ activities that caused to conduct this research. The study was carried out on active a...