Water loss, not overheating, limits the activity period of an endothermic Sonoran Desert bee

Desert animals must manage the physiological stress caused by heat and desiccation; evaporative heat loss mitigates overheating but exacerbates water stress. Small endothermic flying insects may be particularly vulnerable to overheating and water stress as a result of high surface area to volume ratios, but we lack quantitative understanding of the relative magnitude of these abiotic stressors in flying desert invertebrates, despite their ecological importance. During the hottest and driest weeks of year, many thousands of males of the Sonoran Desert digger bee (Centris caesalpiniae) flew near-continuously at elevated thorax temperatures for hours at mating aggregation sites, while fighting other males and digging for females. To determine whether incapacitating high temperatures or water loss limited the activity period of male C. caesalpiniae, we assessed wet and dry body mass and water content through the activity period, flight durations using mark–recapture methods, crop volume and sugar content, microclimate selection, water balance during flight, critical water content and maximum critical temperature. Body masses and sizes of males declined through the morning. Body water content scaled isometrically with total body wet mass. Crop volume and sugar content did not vary throughout the day or with bee size. Maximum critical temperature during flight was 51°C for large-morph C. caesalpiniae males, similar to those measured for other bees, and well above body temperatures reached in the field, suggesting that avoidance of overheating does not limit activity in this desert bee. The critical water content of Centris bees averaged 50%, at the low end of those measured for other bees. Measures of net water loss rate indicated that males approached lethal water loss limits within 4 h, a duration in the range of measured daily flight activity, suggesting that desiccation tolerance limits activity. Remarkably, male C. caesalpiniae were not observed to forage at floral or water sources during the activity period, yet they returned over multiple days, suggesting that these males have a mechanism to rehydrate when not at the mating aggregation. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.