The geometry of dependence: solitary bee larvae prioritize carbohydrate over protein in parentally provided pollen

Alexander J. Austin; James D. J. Gilbert

The majority of nests were filled before the larvae hatched. When this was not the case, The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not peer-reviewed) is the author/funder. It . https://doi.org/10.1101/397802 doi: bioRxiv preprint Once provisioned, larvae were placed in an incubation chamber (Gallenkamp, IH-270) at 203 23°C and 80% RH. Provisions were replaced weekly, to avoid desiccation and mould formation, 204 or when fully consumed by larvae. Weight of provision consumed was recorded upon provision 205 replacement. Control larvae underwent the same manipulation but were supplied with natural 206 provisions, i.e. a pollen ball from a cell containing an experimental larva whose pollen ball had 207 been removed. Should they finish this provision, it was replenished with a fresh pollen ball, 208 making the simplifying assumption that all parentally provided provisions were of equal 209 composition. A "water control" group, containing pollen provisions but no larvae, was used to 210 track water loss from the diets, going through the same weighing regime as above with weight 211 loss recorded at each swap.