Bumblebee flight distances in relation to the forage landscape

Osborne, Juliet L.; Martin, Andrew P.; Carreck, Norman; Swain, J. L.; Knight, Mairi E.; Goulson, Dave; Hale, Roddy J.; Sanderson, Roy

doi:10.1111/j.1365-2656.2007.01333.x

Cited by 358 publications

(305 citation statements)

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“…Grassland interior was far more preferable for the bees than field edges neighbouring agricultural fields. The diameter of the studied grassland patches was in the 100-200 m diameter range, which is well within the foraging distance of bumblebees (Knight et al 2005, Osborne et al 2008. Thus, the abundance and richness differences found clearly mean that bee distribution and not population sizes were affected.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 62%

“…Thus, if we are well within the foraging range, then neighbouring habitats or habitat extent matter relatively little. Indeed, in an individual level harmonic radar study it was established that bumblebees do not necessarily forage close to their nest, they often visit destinations beyond the nearest available forage (Osborne et al 1999).Due to bumblebees' large foraging range, landscape level effects start to matter over ca 500 m. These insects very effectively utilise resources within 500 m of colonies, and that can extend to at least 1.5 km, but less than 4 km (Knight et al 2005, Osborne et al 2008. From favourable habitats bumblebee populations can spill over at least 1 km into surrounding farmland (Goulson et al 2010).…”

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confidence: 99%

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The role of local and landscape level factors in determining bumblebee abundance and richness

Sárospataki¹,

Bakos²,

Horváth³

et al. 2016

Acta Zool Acad Sci H

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Wild bees are important contributors to the pollination ecosystem service, but they are especially vulnerable to agricultural intensification which causes the loss and fragmentation of natural habitats. We monitored bumblebee populations (Bombus spp.) in 14 grassland patches incorporated into the agricultural habitat mosaic in the Mezőföld region, Hungary. We asked how bumblebee populations were affected by local vegetation quality and the presence of various landscape elements, including fields in agri-environmental schemes, at various spatial scales. A stratified analysis revealed that vegetation quality, especially the lack of weeds, was the most important local factor that positively affected both bumblebee abundance and species number. We found no significant landscape scale effects between 50-250 m. Between 500-1000 m grassland area in the landscape had consistently significant positive effect on species richness. At the 2 km scale the extent of arable fields had a negative impact on both abundance and richness. A higher percentage area of arable fields in the landscape participating in agri-environmental schemes had no positive effect on bumblebee abundance or species richness. Considering all local and landscape effects and their possible interactions, model selection and variance partitioning revealed that local factors were the most important determinants of bumblebee richness and abundance. Local and landscape factors had high shared variance but did not interact with each other. The present study indicated that small scale landscape composition had the lowest importance, but larger scale landscape composition was significant, most likely because bumblebees can forage far from their nests. If we are able to provide good quality grassland patches incorporated into the agricultural habitat mosaic, then we can build on the strong spill over propensity of bumblebees and can expect their contribution to the pollination of various crops.Key words: Bombus, pollination, landscape complexity, grassland, agri-environmental scheme INTRODUCTIONFrom the second part of the 20th century, the intensification of agricultural production became higher than ever before. The intensive agricultural * This paper is dedicated to Prof. László Papp, in honor of his 70th birthday and his outstanding contribution to the fields of dipteran taxonomy and ecology.Acta Zool. Acad. Sci. Hung. 62, 2016 388 SÁROSPATAKI, M., BAKOS, R., HORVÁTH, A., NEIDERT, D., HORVÁTH, V. et al. management resulted in general biodiversity decline in Europe (de Heer et al. 2005), leading to a decrease in the level of ecosystem services including pollination (Murray et al. 2009). The landscape change and fragmentation of habitats through agricultural intensification created structurally poor landscapes (Tilman et al. 2001), and these affected the diversity and abundance of pollinators, especially wild bees (Biesmeijer et al. 2006, Goulson et al. 2010, Kremen et al. 2002, Potts et al. 2010.Pollination is an important ecosystem service, provided prima...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 62%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of local and landscape level factors in determining bumblebee abundance and richness

Sárospataki¹,

Bakos²,

Horváth³

et al. 2016

Acta Zool Acad Sci H

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“…The distance covered is a vital proxy for the flight capacity of honeybees as it integrates speed with endurance [27]. Furthermore, flight distance is an indicator of the foraging range of insects and their pollination potential [31,32] (e.g. honeybees live until they have flown around 800 km [27]).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interaction betweenVarroa destructorand imidacloprid reduces flight capacity of honeybees

2015

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Current high losses of honeybees seriously threaten crop pollination. Whereas parasite exposure is acknowledged as an important cause of these losses, the role of insecticides is controversial. Parasites and neonicotinoid insecticides reduce homing success of foragers (e.g. by reduced orientation), but it is unknown whether they negatively affect flight capacity. We investigated how exposing colonies to the parasitic mite Varroa destructor and the neonicotinoid insecticide imidacloprid affect flight capacity of foragers. Flight distance, time and speed of foragers were measured in flight mills to assess the relative and interactive effects of high V. destructor load and a field-realistic, chronic sub-lethal dose of imidacloprid. Foragers from colonies exposed to high levels of V. destructor flew shorter distances, with a larger effect when also exposed to imidacloprid. Bee body mass partly explained our results as bees were heavier when exposed to these stressors, possibly due to an earlier onset of foraging. Our findings contribute to understanding of interacting stressors that can explain colony losses. Reduced flight capacity decreases the food-collecting ability of honeybees and may hamper the use of precocious foraging as a coping mechanism during colony (nutritional) stress. Ineffective coping mechanisms may lead to destructive cascading effects and subsequent colony collapse.

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“…It implies that individuals optimally explore a foraging area and are able to return to their nest after foraging for resources, to store, and to share it with the members of the group family (Bell, 1990; Houston & McNamara, 1985; Orians & Pearson, 1979). Nesting site choice results from the trade‐off among the habitability of the location, its safety from predators and the distance to resources (Osborne et al., 1999, 2008; Pyke, Pulliam, & Charnov, 1977; Williams & Kremen, 2007). To limit foraging costs, individuals optimize different parameters linked to foraging such as the distance they travel (Bell, 1990; Pyke, 1984).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Activity rhythm and action range of workers of the invasive hornet predator of honeybees Vespa velutina, measured by radio frequency identification tags

Poidatz

Monceau

Bonnard

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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In social insects, the activity rhythm of foragers and their action range determinate the activity of the colony. In vespids, which are mostly predators, the foraging range of workers determines their maximum predation pressure round the nest. One of these species, Vespa velutina, a recently invasive species introduced into Europe, exerts a strong predation on honeybees at the hive. Therefore, the definition of its activity rhythm and spatial range of predation is of primary importance. Using radio frequency identification tags (RFID), two experiments were carried out to (a) determine their return ability (called homing) in releasing 318 individuals at different distance from their colony and (b) monitor their foraging activity rhythm and the duration of their flights based on 71 individuals followed 24 hr/24 during 2 months. The homing ability of V. velutina was evaluated to be up to 5,000 m and was not affected by the cardinal orientation of release point. The lag time to return to the nest increased with the distance of release. Most of the flight activity took place between 07:00 a.m. and 08:00 p.m., hornets doing principally short flights of less than an hour. Foraging range was thus estimated ca. 1,000 m around the nest. This study of V. velutina assisted by RFID tags provides for the first time a baseline for its potential foraging distance that increase our knowledge of this species to (a) refine more accurately models for risk assessment and (b) define security perimeter for early detection of predation on invasion front.

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Bumblebee flight distances in relation to the forage landscape

Cited by 358 publications

References 42 publications

The role of local and landscape level factors in determining bumblebee abundance and richness

The role of local and landscape level factors in determining bumblebee abundance and richness

Interaction betweenVarroa destructorand imidacloprid reduces flight capacity of honeybees

Activity rhythm and action range of workers of the invasive hornet predator of honeybees Vespa velutina, measured by radio frequency identification tags

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