Habitat and forage associations of a naturally colonising insect pollinator, the tree bumblebee Bombus hypnorum.

Bumblebees (Bombus species) are major pollinators of commercial crops and wildflowers but factors affecting their abundance, including causes of recent population declines, remain unclear. Investigating the ecology of species with expanding ranges provides a potentially powerful means of elucidating...

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Autores principales:	Liam P Crowther, Pierre-Louis Hein, Andrew F G Bourke
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2014
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/f516b9b045ad428283bbf7422b722bab
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:f516b9b045ad428283bbf7422b722bab2021-11-25T05:59:05ZHabitat and forage associations of a naturally colonising insect pollinator, the tree bumblebee Bombus hypnorum.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0107568https://doaj.org/article/f516b9b045ad428283bbf7422b722bab2014-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0107568https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203Bumblebees (Bombus species) are major pollinators of commercial crops and wildflowers but factors affecting their abundance, including causes of recent population declines, remain unclear. Investigating the ecology of species with expanding ranges provides a potentially powerful means of elucidating these factors. Such species may also bring novel pollination services to their new ranges. We therefore investigated landscape-scale habitat use and foraging preferences of the Tree Bumblebee, B. hypnorum, a recent natural colonist that has rapidly expanded its range in the UK over the past decade. Counts of B. hypnorum and six other Bombus species were made in March-June 2012 within a mixed landscape in south-eastern Norfolk, UK. The extent of different landscape elements around each transect was quantified at three scales (250 m, 500 m and 1500 m). We then identified the landscape elements that best predicted the density of B. hypnorum and other Bombus species. At the best fitting scale (250 m), B. hypnorum density was significantly positively associated with extent of both urban and woodland cover and significantly negatively associated with extent of oilseed rape cover. This combination of landscape predictors was unique to B. hypnorum. Urban and woodland cover were associated with B. hypnorum density at three and two, respectively, of the three scales studied. Relative to other Bombus species, B. hypnorum exhibited a significantly higher foraging preference for two flowering trees, Crataegus monogyna and Prunus spinosa, and significantly lower preferences for Brassica napus, Glechoma hederacea and Lamium album. Our study provides novel, quantitative support for an association of B. hypnorum with urban and woodland landscape elements. Range expansion in B. hypnorum appears to depend, on exploitation of widespread habitats underutilised by native Bombus species, suggesting B. hypnorum will readily co-exist with these species. These findings suggest that management could target bumblebee species with distinctive habitat requirements to help maintain pollination services.Liam P CrowtherPierre-Louis HeinAndrew F G BourkePublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 9, Iss 9, p e107568 (2014)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Liam P Crowther Pierre-Louis Hein Andrew F G Bourke Habitat and forage associations of a naturally colonising insect pollinator, the tree bumblebee Bombus hypnorum.
description	Bumblebees (Bombus species) are major pollinators of commercial crops and wildflowers but factors affecting their abundance, including causes of recent population declines, remain unclear. Investigating the ecology of species with expanding ranges provides a potentially powerful means of elucidating these factors. Such species may also bring novel pollination services to their new ranges. We therefore investigated landscape-scale habitat use and foraging preferences of the Tree Bumblebee, B. hypnorum, a recent natural colonist that has rapidly expanded its range in the UK over the past decade. Counts of B. hypnorum and six other Bombus species were made in March-June 2012 within a mixed landscape in south-eastern Norfolk, UK. The extent of different landscape elements around each transect was quantified at three scales (250 m, 500 m and 1500 m). We then identified the landscape elements that best predicted the density of B. hypnorum and other Bombus species. At the best fitting scale (250 m), B. hypnorum density was significantly positively associated with extent of both urban and woodland cover and significantly negatively associated with extent of oilseed rape cover. This combination of landscape predictors was unique to B. hypnorum. Urban and woodland cover were associated with B. hypnorum density at three and two, respectively, of the three scales studied. Relative to other Bombus species, B. hypnorum exhibited a significantly higher foraging preference for two flowering trees, Crataegus monogyna and Prunus spinosa, and significantly lower preferences for Brassica napus, Glechoma hederacea and Lamium album. Our study provides novel, quantitative support for an association of B. hypnorum with urban and woodland landscape elements. Range expansion in B. hypnorum appears to depend, on exploitation of widespread habitats underutilised by native Bombus species, suggesting B. hypnorum will readily co-exist with these species. These findings suggest that management could target bumblebee species with distinctive habitat requirements to help maintain pollination services.
format	article
author	Liam P Crowther Pierre-Louis Hein Andrew F G Bourke
author_facet	Liam P Crowther Pierre-Louis Hein Andrew F G Bourke
author_sort	Liam P Crowther
title	Habitat and forage associations of a naturally colonising insect pollinator, the tree bumblebee Bombus hypnorum.
title_short	Habitat and forage associations of a naturally colonising insect pollinator, the tree bumblebee Bombus hypnorum.
title_full	Habitat and forage associations of a naturally colonising insect pollinator, the tree bumblebee Bombus hypnorum.
title_fullStr	Habitat and forage associations of a naturally colonising insect pollinator, the tree bumblebee Bombus hypnorum.
title_full_unstemmed	Habitat and forage associations of a naturally colonising insect pollinator, the tree bumblebee Bombus hypnorum.
title_sort	habitat and forage associations of a naturally colonising insect pollinator, the tree bumblebee bombus hypnorum.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2014
url	https://doaj.org/article/f516b9b045ad428283bbf7422b722bab
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Habitat and forage associations of a naturally colonising insect pollinator, the tree bumblebee Bombus hypnorum.

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