Use of genetic markers to quantify bumblebee foraging range and nest density

Abstract

Bumblebees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) are important pollinators of crops and wildflowers, but many species have suffered dramatic declines in recent decades. Strategies for their conservation require knowledge of their foraging range and nesting density, both of which are poorly understood. Previous studies have mainly focussed on the cosmopolitan bumblebee species Bombus terrestris, and implicitly assume this to be representative of other species. Here we use a landscape-scale microsatellite study to estimate the foraging range and nesting density of two ecologically dissimilar species, B. terrestris and B. pascuorum. Workers were sampled along a 10 km linear transect and 8–9 polymorphic microsatellite markers used to identify putative sisters. We provide the first published estimates of the number of colonies using a circle of radius 50 m in an agricultural landscape: 20.4 for B. terrestris and 54.7 for B. pascuorum. Estimates of nest density differed significantly between the two species: 13 km−2 for B. terrestris and 193 km−2 for B. pascuorum. Foraging ranges also differed substantially, with B. pascuorum foraging over distances less than 312 m and B. terrestris less than 625 m. Clearly bumblebee species differ greatly in fundamental aspects of their ecology. This has significant implications for the development of conservation strategies for rare bumblebees and isolated plant populations, for the management of bumblebees as pollinators, and for predicting patterns of gene flow from genetically modified plants

Long-distance pollen flow assessment through evaluation of pollinator foraging range suggests transgene escape distances

“…S3). This result is consistent with results obtained with bumblebees (24,35) and honeybees (36,37), which indicate that bees usually do not forage very close to their nests (1), even if this should not be true for every bee species (38).…”

Population genetic structure of two primary parasitoids of Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera), Chelonus insularis and Campoletis sonorensis (Hymenoptera): to what extent is the host plant important?

“…The method is usually employed to study social organisms (e.g. Rossiter et al 2002;Darvill et al 2004;Tó th et al 2008), but here is shown that the technique can be readily used to study host selection and foraging in insects.…”

Biodiversity, Species Interactions and Ecological Networks in a Fragmented World

“…These characteristics play an important role for the structure and dynamics of plant-pollinator networks. Large body size reflects the capacity to fly longer distances, and genetic markers and radio-tracking techniques are increasingly used to estimate actual flight distances (Darvill et al, 2004;Hagen et al, 2011). Small stingless bees (e.g.…”