Social conditions facilitate water conservation in a solitary bee.

Madeleine M Ostwald, Valentina A Venegas, Katja C Seltmann

Open access · goldAbstract read

In one paragraph

Article in Journal of insect science (Online), 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

1citing papers in PubMed

–field-weighted citation impact, top 99% of its field

1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 0 citations in OpenAlex.

Morphological and Ecological Traits Explain Variation in Desiccation Tolerance Among Bees.Ecology and evolution · 2026
Article

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Madeleine M OstwaldCheadle Center for Biodiversity & Ecological Restoration, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-9869-8835

Valentina A VenegasCheadle Center for Biodiversity & Ecological Restoration, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.

Katja C SeltmannCheadle Center for Biodiversity & Ecological Restoration, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-5354-6048

University of California, Santa Barbara · US

Funding

National Science Foundation DBI-2102006

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Climatic stressors are important drivers in the evolution of social behavior. Social animals tend to thrive in harsh and unpredictable environments, yet the precise benefits driving these patterns are often unclear. Here, we explore water conservation in forced associations of a solitary bee (Melissodes tepidus timberlakei Cockerell, 1926) to test the hypothesis that grouping can generate synergistic physiological benefits in an incipient social context. Paired bees displayed mutual tolerance and experienced reduced water loss relative to singleton bees when exposed to acute low-humidity stress, with no change in activity levels. While the mechanism underlying these benefits remains unknown, social advantages like these can facilitate the evolution of cooperation among nonrelatives and offer important insights into the social consequences of climate change.

Indexed as

Conservation of Water ResourcesAnimalsBeesHumiditySocial BehaviorSocial ConditionsbeecommunalMelissodes tepidus timberlakeiwater balance

Identifiers

PMID38308818

DOI10.1093/jisesa/ieae001

PMCPMC10838145

OpenAlexW4391509228

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata

LicenceCC BY

Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.