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300 results for “bumble bees”
Floral preferences of mountain bumble bees are constrained by functional traits but flexible through elevation and season
Patterns of resource use by animals can clarify how ecological communities have assembled in the past, how they currently function, and how they are likely to respond to future perturbations. Bumble bees (Hymentoptera: Bombus spp.) and their floral hosts provide a diverse yet tractable system in which to explore resource selection in the context of plant-pollinator networks. Under conditions of resource limitation, the ability of bumble bees species to coexist should depend on dietary niche overlap. In this study, we report patterns and dynamics of floral morphotype preferences in a mountain bumble bee community based on ~13,000 observations of bumble bee floral visits recorded along a 1400 m elevation gradient. We found that bumble bees are highly selective generalists, rarely visiting floral morphotypes at the rates predicted by their relative abundances. Preferences also differed markedly across bumble bee species, and these differences were well-explained by variation in bumble bee tongue length, generating patterns of preference similarity that should be expected to predict competition under conditions of resource limitation. Within species, though, morphotype preferences varied by elevation and season, possibly representing adaptive flexibility in response to the high elevational and seasonal turnover of mountain floral communities. Patterns of resource partitioning among bumble bee communities may determine which species can coexist under the altered distributions of bumble bees and their floral hosts caused by climate and land use change.
Microbiome assembly and maintenance across the lifespan of bumble bee workers
<p>How a host's microbiome changes over its lifespan can influence development and aging. As these temporal patterns have only been described in detail for humans and a handful of other hosts, an important next step is to compare microbiome dynamics across a broader array of host-microbe symbioses, and to investigate how and why they vary. Here we characterize the temporal dynamics and stability of the bumblebee worker gut microbiome. Bumblebees are a useful symbiosis model given their relatively well-understood life history and simple, host-specific gut bacterial communities. Furthermore, microbial dynamics may influence bumblebee health and pollination services. We combined high-temporal-resolution sampling with 16S rRNA gene sequencing, quantitative PCR, and shotgun metagenomics to characterize gut microbiomes over the adult lifespan of Bombus impatiens workers. To understand how hosts may control (or lose control of) the gut microbiome as they age, we also sequenced hindgut transcriptomes. We found that, at the community level, microbiome assembly is highly predictable and similar to patterns of primary succession observed in the human gut. At the same time, partitioning of strain-level bacterial variants among colonies suggests stochastic colonization events similar to those observed in flies and nematodes. We also find strong differences in temporal dynamics among symbiont species, suggesting ecological differences among microbiome members in colonization and persistence. Finally, we show that both the gut microbiome and host transcriptome—including expression of key immunity genes—stabilize, as opposed to senesce, with age. We suggest that in highly social groups such as bumblebees, maintenance of both microbiomes and immunity contribute to the inclusive fitness of workers, and thus remain under selection even in old age. Our findings provide a foundation for exploring the mechanisms and functional outcomes of bee microbiome succession, and for comparative analyses with other host-microbe symbioses.</p>
Bumble bee responses to climate and landscapes: Investigating habitat associations and species assemblages across geographic regions in the United States of America
<p><span>Bumble bees are integral pollinators of native and cultivated plant communities, but species are undergoing significant changes in range and abundance on a global scale. Climate change and land cover alteration are key drivers in pollinator declines; however, limited research has evaluated the cumulative effects of these factors on bumble bee<em> </em>assemblages. This study tests bumble bee assemblage (calculated as richness and abundance) responses to climate and land use by <span>modeling </span>species-specific habitat requirements, and assemblage-level responses across geographic regions. <span>We integrated species richness, abundance, and distribution data for 18 bumble bee species with site-specific bioclimatic, landscape composition, and landscape configuration data to evaluate</span> the effects of multiple environmental stressors <span>on bumble bee assemblages throughout</span> 433 agricultural fields in<span> Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia from 2018 to 2020. Distinct east vs. west groupings emerged when evaluating species-specific habitat associations, prompting a detailed evaluation of bumble bee assemblages by geographic region. Maximum temperature of warmest month and precipitation of driest month had a positive impact on bumble bee assemblages in the Corn Belt/Appalachian/northeast, southeast, and northern plains regions, but a negative impact in the mountain region. Further, </span>forest land cover surrounding agricultural fields was highlighted as supporting more rich and abundant bumble bee assemblages<span>. Overall, climate and land use combine to drive bumble bee assemblages, but how those processes operate is idiosyncratic and spatially contingent across regions. From these findings, we suggested regionally specific management practices to best support rich and abundant bumble bee assemblages in agroecosystems. </span>Results from this study contribute to a better understanding of climate and landscape factors affecting bumble bees and their habitats throughout the USA. </span></p>
Linked collectors and determiners for: USBombus, contemporary survey data of North American bumble bees (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Bombus) distributed in the United States.
Natural history specimen data linked to collectors and determiners held within, "USBombus, contemporary survey data of North American bumble bees (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Bombus) distributed in the United States". Claims or attributions were made on Bionomia by volunteer Scribes, <a href="https://bionomia.net/dataset/c4a2c617-91a7-4d4f-90dd-a78b899f8545">https://bionomia.net/dataset/c4a2c617-91a7-4d4f-90dd-a78b899f8545</a> using specimen data from the dataset aggregated by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, <a href="https://gbif.org/dataset/c4a2c617-91a7-4d4f-90dd-a78b899f8545">https://gbif.org/dataset/c4a2c617-91a7-4d4f-90dd-a78b899f8545</a>. Formatted as a Frictionless Data package.
Linked collectors and determiners for: Patterns of widespread decline in North American bumble bees.
Natural history specimen data linked to collectors and determiners held within, "Patterns of widespread decline in North American bumble bees". Claims or attributions were made on Bionomia by volunteer Scribes, <a href="https://bionomia.net/dataset/8c04889e-a0ad-4f39-8623-06aa9cf0131d">https://bionomia.net/dataset/8c04889e-a0ad-4f39-8623-06aa9cf0131d</a> using specimen data from the dataset aggregated by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, <a href="https://gbif.org/dataset/8c04889e-a0ad-4f39-8623-06aa9cf0131d">https://gbif.org/dataset/8c04889e-a0ad-4f39-8623-06aa9cf0131d</a>. Formatted as a Frictionless Data package.
Linked collectors and determiners for: First records of the Common Eastern Bumble Bee, Bombus impatiens Cresson (Hymenoptera: Apidae, Apinae, Bombini) from the Prairies Ecozone in Canada.
Natural history specimen data linked to collectors and determiners held within, "First records of the Common Eastern Bumble Bee, Bombus impatiens Cresson (Hymenoptera: Apidae, Apinae, Bombini) from the Prairies Ecozone in Canada". Claims or attributions were made on Bionomia by volunteer Scribes, <a href="https://bionomia.net/dataset/0f127474-67c6-4e4f-8bd6-74de0963e53b">https://bionomia.net/dataset/0f127474-67c6-4e4f-8bd6-74de0963e53b</a> using specimen data from the dataset aggregated by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, <a href="https://gbif.org/dataset/0f127474-67c6-4e4f-8bd6-74de0963e53b">https://gbif.org/dataset/0f127474-67c6-4e4f-8bd6-74de0963e53b</a>. Formatted as a Frictionless Data package.
Linked collectors and determiners for: Bumble bees and Large Carpenter bees in the UVM Zadock Thompson Zoological Collection.
Natural history specimen data linked to collectors and determiners held within, "Bumble bees and Large Carpenter bees in the UVM Zadock Thompson Zoological Collection". Claims or attributions were made on Bionomia by volunteer Scribes, <a href="https://bionomia.net/dataset/155ad75a-6721-4fc5-9c94-4eef447ee650">https://bionomia.net/dataset/155ad75a-6721-4fc5-9c94-4eef447ee650</a> using specimen data from the dataset aggregated by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, <a href="https://gbif.org/dataset/155ad75a-6721-4fc5-9c94-4eef447ee650">https://gbif.org/dataset/155ad75a-6721-4fc5-9c94-4eef447ee650</a>. Formatted as a Frictionless Data package.
Linked collectors and determiners for: Bumble bees collected in a large-scale field experiment in power line clearings, southeast Norway.
Natural history specimen data linked to collectors and determiners held within, "Bumble bees collected in a large-scale field experiment in power line clearings, southeast Norway". Claims or attributions were made on Bionomia by volunteer Scribes, <a href="https://bionomia.net/dataset/78822c79-7646-448d-aac2-35700498c147">https://bionomia.net/dataset/78822c79-7646-448d-aac2-35700498c147</a> using specimen data from the dataset aggregated by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, <a href="https://gbif.org/dataset/78822c79-7646-448d-aac2-35700498c147">https://gbif.org/dataset/78822c79-7646-448d-aac2-35700498c147</a>. Formatted as a Frictionless Data package.
Linked collectors and determiners for: Vermont Bumble Bee Atlas 2012 - 2014.
Natural history specimen data linked to collectors and determiners held within, "Vermont Bumble Bee Atlas 2012 - 2014". Claims or attributions were made on Bionomia by volunteer Scribes, <a href="https://bionomia.net/dataset/7ffba224-5620-4dfd-a43e-9783fa414933">https://bionomia.net/dataset/7ffba224-5620-4dfd-a43e-9783fa414933</a> using specimen data from the dataset aggregated by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, <a href="https://gbif.org/dataset/7ffba224-5620-4dfd-a43e-9783fa414933">https://gbif.org/dataset/7ffba224-5620-4dfd-a43e-9783fa414933</a>. Formatted as a Frictionless Data package.
Linked collectors and determiners for: Bombus johanseni, a valid North American bumble bee species.
Natural history specimen data linked to collectors and determiners held within, "Bombus johanseni, a valid North American bumble bee species". Claims or attributions were made on Bionomia by volunteer Scribes, <a href="https://bionomia.net/dataset/90d8babc-685f-449e-a4ec-7275ca7655c7">https://bionomia.net/dataset/90d8babc-685f-449e-a4ec-7275ca7655c7</a> using specimen data from the dataset aggregated by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, <a href="https://gbif.org/dataset/90d8babc-685f-449e-a4ec-7275ca7655c7">https://gbif.org/dataset/90d8babc-685f-449e-a4ec-7275ca7655c7</a>. Formatted as a Frictionless Data package.
High thermal tolerance in high elevation species and laboratory-reared colonies of tropical bumble bees
<p>Bumble bees are key pollinators with some species reared in captivity at a commercial scale, but with significant evidence of population declines and with alarming predictions of substantial impacts under climate change scenarios. While studies on the thermal biology of temperate bumble bees are still limited, they are entirely absent from the tropics where the effects of climate change are expected to be greater. Herein we test if bees' thermal tolerance decreases with elevation and if the stable optimal conditions used in laboratory-reared colonies reduces their thermal tolerance. We assessed changes in the lower (CTMin) and upper (CTMax) critical thermal limits of four species at two elevations (2600 and 3600 m) in the Colombian Andes, examined the effect of body size, and evaluated the thermal tolerance of wild caught and laboratory-reared individuals of B. pauloensis. We also compiled information on bumble bees' thermal limits and assessed potential predictors for broad-scale patterns. We found that CTMin decreased with increasing elevation while CTMax was similar between elevations. CTMax was slightly higher (0.84 °C) in laboratory-reared than in wild-caught bees while CTMin was similar, and CTMin decreased with increasing body size while CTMax did not. Latitude is a good predictor for CTMin only while annual mean temperature, maximum and minimum temperatures of the warmest and coldest months are good predictors for both CTMin and CTMax. The stronger response in CTMin with increasing elevation, and similar CTMax, supports Brett's heat-invariant hypothesis, which has been documented in other taxa. Andean bumble bees appear to be about as heat tolerant as those from temperate areas, suggesting that other aspects besides temperature (e.g., water balance) might be more determinant environmental factors for these species. Laboratory-reared colonies are adequate surrogates for addressing questions on thermal tolerance and global warming impacts. </p>
Data for: Higher floral richness promotes rarer bee communities across remnant and reconstructed tallgrass prairies, though remnants contain higher abundances of a threatened bumble bee (Bombus Latreille)
<p>Managing and restoring tallgrass prairie ecosystem is an important form of pollinator conservation in the Midwestern United States. Prairie reconstruction has been found to enhance native bee diversity and abundance, but it is less clear if prairie reconstruction conserves species thought to be at-risk. We reanalyze a previously published dataset on the bee communities of reconstructed and remnant prairie in the US state of Minnesota to investigate how the abundance of at-risk species respond to local factors, such as floral diversity and prairie type (reconstructed or remnant), and landscape factors, in the form of surrounding agricultural production. We defined at-risk species in two ways. For bumble bees, we used the IUCN red list of bumble bees for North America. As other species in the bee community have not been systematically evaluated, we used an independent data set to calculate a community-level measure of rarity as a proxy for at-risk species. We calculated community rarity metrics using a Species Weighted Mean (SWM) approach, with species-level rarity (relative abundance and site occurrence) derived from a regional dataset comprised of over 30,000 specimens from across the US state of Minnesota. We found that the declining bumble bee <em>Bombus</em> <em>fervidus</em> had higher abundances in remnant rather than reconstructed prairies. Floral richness was associated with rarer bee communities (lower SWM values) across remnant and reconstructed prairies. We show that planting and managing prairies for floral diversity promotes bee communities with rarer species, but that remnants better support some at-risk species such as <em>Bombus</em> <em>fervidus</em>. </p>
Data for: Positive impact of postfire environment on bumble bees not explained by habitat variables in a remote forested ecosystem
<p>Bumble bees are important pollinators in temperate forested regions where fire is a driving force for habitat change, and thus understanding how these insects respond to fire is critical. Previous work has shown bees are often positively affected by the post-fire environment, with burned sites supporting greater bee abundance and diversity, and increased floral resources. The extent to which fire impacts variation in bumble bee site occupancy is not well understood, especially in higher latitude regions with dense, primarily coniferous forests. Occupancy models are powerful tools for biodiversity analyses, as they separately estimate occupancy probability (likelihood that a species is present at a particular location) and detection probability (likelihood of observing a species when it is present). Using these models, we tested whether bumble bee site occupancy is higher in burned locations as a result of the increase in canopy openness, floral species richness, and floral abundance. We quantified the impact of fire, and associated habitat changes, on bumble bee species' occupancy in an area with high wildfire frequency in British Columbia, Canada. The burn status of a site was the only significant predictor for determining bumble bee occurrence (with burned sites having higher occupancy); floral resource availability and canopy openness only impacted detection probability (roughly, sample bias). These findings highlight the importance of controlling for the influence of habitat on species detection in pollinator studies and suggest that fire in this system changes the habitat for bumble bees in positive ways that extend beyond our measurements of differences in floral resources and canopy cover.</p>
Whole genome demographic models indicate divergent effective population size histories shape contemporary genetic diversity gradients in a montane bumble bee
<p>Understanding historical range shifts and population size variation provides important context for interpreting contemporary genetic diversity. Methods to predict changes in species distributions and model changes in effective population size (N<sub>e</sub>) using whole genomes make it feasible to examine how temporal dynamics influence diversity across populations. We investigate N<sub>e</sub> variation and climate-associated range shifts to examine the origins of a previously observed latitudinal heterozygosity gradient in the bumble bee <em>Bombus</em> <em>vancouverensis</em> Cresson (Hymenoptera: Apidae: <em>Bombus</em> Latreille) in western North America. We analyze whole genomes from a latitude-elevation cline using sequentially Markovian coalescent models of N<sub>e</sub> through time to test whether relatively low diversity in southern high-elevation populations is a result of long-term differences in N<sub>e</sub>. We use Maxent models of the species range over the last 130,000 years to evaluate range shifts and stability. N<sub>e</sub> fluctuates with climate across populations, but more genetically diverse northern populations have maintained greater Ne over the late Pleistocene and experienced larger expansions with climatically favorable time periods. Northern populations also experienced larger bottlenecks during the last glacial period which matched the loss of range area near these sites, however, bottlenecks were not sufficient to erode diversity maintained during periods of large N<sub>e</sub>. A genome sampled from an island population indicated a severe postglacial bottleneck, indicating that large recent post-glacial declines are detectable if they have occurred. Genetic diversity was not related to niche stability or glacial-period bottleneck size. Instead, spatial expansions and increased connectivity during favorable climates likely maintain diversity in the north while restriction to high elevations maintains relatively low diversity despite greater stability in southern regions. Results suggest genetic diversity gradients reflect long-term differences in N<sub>e</sub> dynamics and also emphasize the unique effects of isolation on insular habitats for bumble bees. Patterns are discussed in the context of conservation under climate change.</p>
Variation in North American bumble bee nest success and colony sizes under captive rearing conditions
<p>Of the 265 known bumble bee (<em>Bombus</em>) species, knowledge of colony lifecycle is derived from relatively few species. As interest in <em>Bombus</em> commercialization and conservation grows, it is becoming increasingly important to understand colony growth dynamics across a variety of species since variation exists in nest success, colony growth, and reproductive output. In this study, we documented successful nest initiation and establishment rates of colonies produced from wild-caught gynes, and created a timeline of colony development for fifteen western North American <em>Bombus </em>species captively reared from 2009 to 2019. Additionally, we assessed variation in colony size among five western North American <em>Bombus </em>species from 2015 to 2018. Nest initiation and establishment rates varied greatly among species, ranging from 5–76.1% and 0–71.8%, respectively. <em>Bombus griseocollis </em>had the highest rates of nest success across the eleven-year period, followed by <em>B. occidentalis, B. vosnesenskii, </em>and <em>B. huntii. </em>Further, we identified that colonies reared from two gynes had significantly higher nest initiation and establishment rates per nest box compared to those reared from a single gyne. Colony size also differed significantly among species with <em>B. huntii </em>and <em>B. vosnesenskii </em>producing more worker/drone cells than <em>B. griseocollis, B. occidentalis, </em>and <em>B. vancouverensis. </em>Additionally, gyne production differed significantly among species with <em>B. huntii </em>colonies producing more gynes than <em>B. vosnesenskii. </em>Results from this study increase knowledge of systematic nesting biology for numerous western North American <em>Bombus </em>species under captive rearing conditions, which can further improve rearing techniques available to conservationists and researchers.</p>
Data for: Consequences of microsporidian prior exposure for virus infection outcomes and bumble bee host health
<p>Host-parasite interactions do not occur in a vacuum but in connected multi-parasite networks. Resulting co-exposures and coinfections during an individual host's lifetime can affect host health and infectious disease ecology, including disease outbreaks. However, many host-parasite studies examine pairwise interactions, meaning we still lack a general understanding of the influence of co-exposures and coinfections. Using the bumble bee <em>Bombus</em> <em>impatiens</em>, we study the effects of larval exposure to a microsporidian, <em>Nosema</em> <em>bombi</em>, implicated in bumble bee declines, and adult exposure to Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV), an emerging infectious disease from honey bee parasite spillover. We hypothesize that infection outcomes will be modified by co-exposure or coinfection depending on relevant temporal interactions, due to changes in host immune allocation or condition. <em>Nosema</em> <em>bombi</em> is a potentially severe, larval-infecting parasite, and we predict that prior exposure will result in decreased host resistance to adult IAPV infection. We predict a double exposure will also reduce host tolerance, as measured by host survival. Although our larval <em>Nosema</em> exposure mostly did not result in viable infections, it reduced resistance to adult IAPV infection. Exposure to <em>Nosema</em> also negatively affected survival, potentially due to a cost of immunity in resisting the exposure. There was also a significant negative effect of IAPV exposure on survivorship, but in contrast to resistance, prior <em>Nosema</em> exposure did not alter this survival outcome. These results again demonstrate that infection outcomes within multi-parasite host networks can be non-independent, even when exposure to one parasite does not result in a substantial infection. </p>
A simulated natural heatwave perturbs bumble bee immunity and resistance to infection
<p><span>As a consequence of ongoing climate change, heatwaves are predicted to increase in frequency, intensity, and duration in many regions. Such extreme events can shift organisms from thermal optima for physiology and behavior, with the thermal stress hypothesis predicting reduced performance at temperatures where the maintenance of biological functions is energetically costly. Performance includes the ability to resist biotic stressors, such as infectious diseases. Climate change is a proposed threat to native bee pollinators, directly and through indirect effects on floral resources, but the thermal stress hypothesis, particularly pertaining to disease resistance, has received limited attention. We exposed adult <em>Bombus impatiens</em> bumble bee workers to simulated, ecologically relevant heatwave or control thermal regimes and assessed longevity, immunity, and resistance to concurrent or future parasite infections. We demonstrate that survival and induced antibacterial immunity are reduced following heatwaves. Supporting that heatwave exposure compromised immunity, the cost of immune activation by a non-pathogenic elicitor was thermal regime dependent, with costs to long-term survival in control but not heatwave exposed bees. However, in the face of real infections, an inability to mount an optimal immune response will be detrimental, which was reflected by higher infections from trypanosome parasite exposure following the heatwave, relative to the control regime. These results demonstrate interactions between heatwave exposure and bumble bee performance, including immune and infection outcomes. Thus, the health of bumble bee pollinator populations may be affected through altered interactions with parasites and pathogens, in addition to other effects of extreme manifestations of climate change.</span></p>
Associated Dataset for Genome-wide DNA methylation patterns in bumble bee (Bombus vosnesenskii) populations from spatial-environmental range extremes
<p>The dataset contains the final methylation call set (n=14,627,533), variant calling file for population genomics analyses, analysis codes/scripts, and other associated files related to the research (Constitutive and variable patterns of genome-wide DNA methylation in populations from spatial-environmental range extremes of the bumble bee <em>Bombus vosnesenskii)</em>. Raw WGBS reads generated in this study have been deposited and are currently available at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) Sequence Read Archive (SRA) under NCBI BioProject PRJNA956115.</p>
Data from: Seasonal shifts in thermoregulatory behavior of bumble bee queens
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Unravelling the habitat preferences of two closely related bumble bee species in Eastern Europe
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