Native Bees, Honeybees, and Pollination in Oregon Cranberries

Cultivated cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon Aiton) relies on insect pollination for berry production. Honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) have historically provided this service, but their recent decline has underscored the need for additional pollinators. The objective of this study was to determine the richness and abundance of native bees in the cranberry-growing area of southern coastal Oregon and compare foraging behaviors of honeybees and native bees. In a 2-year study, we collected over 27 native bee species in traps set out during and after bloom (mid-May to mid-June). During 67 2-min observations, honeybees (68.1%) and three species of bumble bees (Bombus spp.; 31.6%) comprised 99.7% of foragers. The dominant bumble bee was Bombus vosnesenskii Radoszkowski (56.0%). Multivariate regression of temperature and wind speed data indicated that both were significantly predictive of honeybee and bumble bee foragers (P < 0.001). The interquartile range for foraging was 18.3 to 22.2 °C for bumble bees and 21.1 to 26.7 °C for honeybees. Over 75% of honeybees were seen foraging above the average observed temperature (19.5 °C). Bumble bee pollen loads had a greater dry mass (6.8 ± 12.9 mg) than those of honeybees (2.0 ± 3.6 mg; P < 0.001), and the latter were observed collecting nectar but no pollen more often (during 37.2% of visits) than bumble bees (11.3% of visits). Based on our results, bumble bees in general, and B. vosnesenskii in particular, may be providing significant pollination services for Oregon cranberry farms. However, to maintain current native bumble bee populations, conservation efforts are recommended.

Download Full-text

Observations of native bumble bees inside of commercial colonies ofBombus impatiens(Hymenoptera: Apidae) and the potential for pathogen spillover

The Canadian Entomologist ◽

10.4039/tce.2018.28 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 150 (4) ◽

pp. 520-531 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

B.J. Hicks ◽

B.L. Pilgrim ◽

E. Perry ◽

H.D. Marshall

Keyword(s):

Newfoundland And Labrador ◽

Bumble Bees ◽

Bumble Bee ◽

Native Bees ◽

Chain Reaction ◽

Nosema Bombi ◽

Crithidia Bombi ◽

Native Bee ◽

Bee Diversity ◽

Polymerase Chain

AbstractMany fruit producers use commercial colonies ofBombus impatiensCresson (Hymenoptera: Apidae) to supplement crop pollination by native bees. A small number of Newfoundland (Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada) farmers forego purchasing new colonies and, instead, purchase previously used colonies from crops in other provinces. This practice has potentially dangerous implications that may adversely affect future native bee diversity in Newfoundland. This study is the first to record the presence of native bumble bee species inside the colonies of new and pre-used commercialB. impatiensand the first to look at diseases in native bumble bees from Newfoundland. Polymerase chain reaction and taxon-specific oligonucleotides were used to screen the commercial and native bumble bee species for pathogens.Crithidia bombi(Lipa and Triggiani), Apicystis bombi(Liu, Macfarlane, and Pengelly),Nosema bombiFantham and Porter, Nosema ceranaeFrieset al., and species ofAscosphaeraOlive and Spiltoir, were detected in native bumble bees that were collected from inside the new and pre-used commercialB. impatiens.Crithidia bombi,A. bombi, andN. bombiwere also detected among native bees that were collected away from the commercial colonies.Nosema apis(Zander) andMelissococcus plutonius(White) were not detected in any of the bees tested. The mixing of native bumble bees inB. impatienscolonies increases the potential for pathogen spillover and spillback that may threaten the small and vulnerable island bee fauna.

Download Full-text

Why Are Queens Broodless? Failed Nest Initiation Not Linked to Parasites, Mating Status, or Ovary Development in Two Bumble Bee Species of Pyrobombus (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Bombus)

Journal of Economic Entomology ◽

10.1093/jee/toz330 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 113 (2) ◽

pp. 575-581 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jessica L Mullins ◽

James P Strange ◽

Amber D Tripodi

Keyword(s):

North America ◽

Commercial Production ◽

Bumble Bees ◽

Ovary Development ◽

Bumble Bee ◽

Agricultural Crops ◽

Western North America ◽

Mating Status ◽

Pollination Services ◽

Causal Factors

Abstract Bumble bees (Bombus [Hymenoptera: Apidae]) are important pollinators for agricultural crops, which has led to their commercial domestication. Despite their importance, little is known about the reproductive biology of bumble bees native to North America. The Hunt bumble bee (Bombus huntii Greene [Hymenoptera: Apidae]) and the Vosnesensky bumble bee (Bombus vosnesenskii Radoszkowski [Hymenoptera: Apidae] are native candidates for commercial production in western North America due to their efficacy in providing commercial pollination services. Availability of pollinators native to the region in which services would be provided would minimize the likelihood of introducing exotic species and spreading novel disease. Some parasites are known to affect bumble bee reproduction, but little is known about their prevalence in North America or how they affect queen success. Only 38% of wild-caught B. huntii and 51% wild-caught B. vosnesenskii queens collected between 2015 and 2017 initiated nests in the laboratory. Our objective was to identify causal factors leading to a queen’s inability to oviposit. To address this, we dissected each broodless queen and diagnosed diseases, assessed mating status, and characterized ovary development. Nematodes, arthropods, and microorganisms were detected in both species. Overall, 20% of queens were infected by parasites, with higher rates in B. vosnesenskii. Over 95% of both species were mated, and over 88% had developed ovaries. This suggests that parasitism and mating status were not primary causes of broodlessness. Although some failure to nest can be attributed to assessed factors, additional research is needed to fully understand the challenges presented by captive rearing.

Download Full-text

A Native Bee, Melissodes tepaneca (Hymenoptera: Apidae), Benefits Cotton Production

Insects ◽

10.3390/insects11080487 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (8) ◽

pp. 487 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Isaac L. Esquivel ◽

Robert N. Coulson ◽

Michael J. Brewer

Keyword(s):

Cropping Systems ◽

Native Bees ◽

Cotton Production ◽

Pollination Services ◽

Whole Plant ◽

Weight Yield ◽

Native Bee ◽

Cotton Plants ◽

Yield Gain ◽

Plant Basis

The cotton agroecosystem is one of the most intensely managed, economically and culturally important cropping systems worldwide. Native pollinators are essential in providing pollination services to a diverse array of crops, including those which have the ability to self-pollinate. Cotton, which is autogamous, can potentially benefit from insect-mediated pollination services provided by native bees within the agroecosystem. Examined through two replicated experiments over two years, we hypothesized that native bees facilitated cross-pollination, which resulted in increased lint of harvested bolls produced by flowers exposed to bees and overall lint weight yield of the plant. Cotton bolls from flowers that were caged and exposed to bees, flowers that were hand-crossed, and bolls from flowers on uncaged plants exposed to pollinators had higher pre-gin weights and post-gin weights than bolls from flowers of caged plants excluded from pollinators. When cotton plants were caged with the local native bee Melissodes tepaneca, seed cotton weight was 0.8 g higher on average in 2018 and 1.18 g higher on average in 2019 than when cotton plants were excluded from bees. Cotton production gains from flowers exposed to M. tepaneca were similar when measuring lint and seed separately. Cotton flowers exposed over two weeks around the middle of the blooming period resulted in an overall yield gain of 12% to 15% on a whole plant basis and up to 24% from bolls produced from flowers exposed directly to M. tepaneca. This information complements cotton-mediated conservation benefits provided to native pollinators by substantiating native bee-mediated pollination services provided to the cotton agroecosystem.

Download Full-text

Along urbanization sprawl, exotic plants distort native bee (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) assemblages in high elevation Andes ecosystem

10.7287/peerj.preprints.27140 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Patricia Henríquez-Piskulich ◽

Alejandro Vera ◽

Gino Sandoval ◽

Cristian Villagra

Keyword(s):

High Altitude ◽

Plant Species ◽

Extreme Environments ◽

Exotic Plants ◽

High Elevation ◽

Native Bees ◽

Exotic Plant ◽

Exotic Plant Species ◽

Pollination Services ◽

Native Bee

Native bees contribute with a considerable portion of pollination services for endemic as well as economically important plant species. Their decline has been attributed to several human-derived influences including global warming as well as the reduction, alteration and loss of bees’ habitat. Moreover, together with human expansion comes along the introduction of exotic plant species with negative impacts over native ecosystems. Anthropic effects may have even a deeper impact on communities adapted to extreme environments, such as high elevation habitats, where abiotic stressors alone are a natural limitation to biodiversity. In these, human-borne alterations, such as the introduction of exotic plants and urbanization, may have a greater influence on native communities. In this work we explored such problem, studying the relationship between landscape and its effect over richness and abundance of native bees from the subandean belt in the Andes mountain chain. Furthermore, we investigated the effects of exotic plant abundance on this high-altitude bee assemblage. Despite landscape did not show an effect over bee richness and abundance, exotic plants did have a significant influence over native bee assemblage. The abundance of exotic plants was associated with a relative increase in the proportion of small and medium bee species. Moreover, Halictidae was the only family that appeared to be favored by an increase in the abundance of exotic plant species. We discuss these results and the urgent need for further research of high-altitude environments due to their vulnerability and high endemicity.

Download Full-text

Decades of native bee biodiversity surveys at Pinnacles National Park highlight the importance of monitoring natural areas over time

10.1101/462986 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Joan M. Meiners ◽

Terry L. Griswold ◽

Olivia Messinger Carril

Keyword(s):

National Park ◽

Habitat Type ◽

Native Bees ◽

Natural Areas ◽

Natural Habitats ◽

Pollination Services ◽

Agricultural Conversion ◽

Native Bee ◽

Bee Communities ◽

Over Time

AbstractThousands of species of bees are in global decline, yet research addressing the ecology and status of these wild pollinators lags far behind work being done to address similar impacts on the managed honey bee. This knowledge gap is especially glaring in natural areas, despite knowledge that protected habitats harbor and export diverse bee communities into nearby croplands where their pollination services have been valued at over $3 billion per year. Surrounded by ranches and farmlands, Pinnacles National Park in the Inner South Coast Range of California contains intact Mediterranean chaparral shrubland. This habitat type is among the most valuable for bee biodiversity worldwide, as well as one of the most vulnerable to agricultural conversion, urbanization and climate change. Pinnacles National Park is also one of a very few locations where extensive native bee inventory efforts have been repeated over time. This park thus presents a valuable and rare opportunity to monitor long-term trends and baseline variability of native bees in natural habitats. Fifteen years after a species inventory marked Pinnacles as a biodiversity hotspot for native bees, we resurveyed these native bee communities over two flowering seasons using a systematic, plot-based design. Combining results, we report a total of 450 bee species within this 109km2natural area of California, including 48 new species records as of 2012 and 95 species not seen since 1999. As far as we are aware, this species richness marks Pinnacles National Park as one of the most densely diverse places known for native bees. We explore patterns of bee diversity across this protected landscape, compare results to other surveyed natural areas, and highlight the need for additional repeated inventories in protected areas over time amid widespread concerns of bee declines.

Download Full-text

Bumble bees in landscapes with abundant floral resources have lower pathogen loads

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-020-78119-2 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Darin J. McNeil ◽

Elyse McCormick ◽

Ashley C. Heimann ◽

Melanie Kammerer ◽

Margaret R. Douglas ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Honey Bee ◽

Geographic Region ◽

Bumble Bees ◽

Floral Resources ◽

Bumble Bee ◽

Population Declines ◽

Pollination Services ◽

Deformed Wing Virus ◽

Wild Bee ◽

Nesting Resources

AbstractThe pollination services provided by bees are essential for supporting natural and agricultural ecosystems. However, bee population declines have been documented across the world. Many of the factors known to undermine bee health (e.g., poor nutrition) can decrease immunocompetence and, thereby, increase bees’ susceptibility to diseases. Given the myriad of stressors that can exacerbate disease in wild bee populations, assessments of the relative impact of landscape habitat conditions on bee pathogen prevalence are needed to effectively conserve pollinator populations. Herein, we assess how landscape-level conditions, including various metrics of floral/nesting resources, insecticides, weather, and honey bee (Apis mellifera) abundance, drive variation in wild bumble bee (Bombus impatiens) pathogen loads. Specifically, we screened 890 bumble bee workers from varied habitats in Pennsylvania, USA for three pathogens (deformed wing virus, black queen cell virus, and Vairimorpha (= Nosema) bombi), Defensin expression, and body size. Bumble bees collected within low-quality landscapes exhibited the highest pathogen loads, with spring floral resources and nesting habitat availability serving as the main drivers. We also found higher loads of pathogens where honey bee apiaries are more abundant, a positive relationship between Vairimorpha loads and rainfall, and differences in pathogens by geographic region. Collectively, our results highlight the need to support high-quality landscapes (i.e., those with abundant floral/nesting resources) to maintain healthy wild bee populations.

Download Full-text

Along urbanization sprawl, exotic plants distort native bee (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) assemblages in high elevation Andes ecosystem

10.7287/peerj.preprints.27140v1 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Patricia Henríquez-Piskulich ◽

Alejandro Vera ◽

Gino Sandoval ◽

Cristian Villagra

Keyword(s):

High Altitude ◽

Plant Species ◽

Extreme Environments ◽

Exotic Plants ◽

High Elevation ◽

Native Bees ◽

Exotic Plant ◽

Exotic Plant Species ◽

Pollination Services ◽

Native Bee

Download Full-text

The Health of Commercial Bombus impatiens (Hymenoptera: Apidae) Colonies After Foraging in Florida Watermelon and Blueberry

Environmental Entomology ◽

10.1093/ee/nvz081 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 48 (5) ◽

pp. 1197-1202

Author(s):

Joshua W Campbell ◽

Mary Bammer ◽

Tomas A Bustamante ◽

James D Ellis

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

The United States ◽

Bumble Bees ◽

Bombus Impatiens ◽

Bumble Bee ◽

Eastern United States ◽

Pollination Services ◽

Crop Fields ◽

Bee Colony ◽

Weight Number

Abstract Bumble bees are commonly used to provide pollination services within crop fields and greenhouses, with Bombus impatiens Cresson; Hymenoptera: Apidae, a bee native to the eastern United States, being the only managed bumble bee available commercially in the United States. Although many researchers have explored managed bumble bees’ ability to pollinate various crops and the potential spread of pathogens by managed bumble bees, scant research is available on how managed bumble bee colony health is affected after foraging within crop fields. We measured 10 B. impatiens colony health parameters: 1) colony weight; number of 2) honey/pollen pots, 3) workers, 4) queens, 5) drones, 6) immatures, 7) eggs; and weight of 8) workers, 9) drones, and 10) queens from colonies that foraged within blueberry or watermelon fields, and compared them to control colonies that were purchased and immediately frozen upon receipt. Bees that foraged within blueberry increased in colony weight and in the number of immatures and eggs during the bloom period compared to control colonies. In contrast, bee colonies placed within watermelon decreased in colony weight, number of workers and immature bees, and individual bee weight compared to control colonies. Blueberry appeared to provide bees with sufficient nectar and pollen, whereas watermelon may not have provided adequate resources for the bees. Bees foraging within watermelon were probably forced to search for other sources of pollen and nectar, resulting in colony health parameter declines. Our data suggest that some crops (e.g., blueberry) can support managed B. impatiens, potentially adding to localized bumble bee populations, while others (e.g., watermelon) cannot.

Download Full-text

Big city Bombus : using natural history and land-use history to find significant environmental drivers in bumble-bee declines in urban development

Royal Society Open Science ◽

10.1098/rsos.170156 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 4 (5) ◽

pp. 170156 ◽

Cited By ~ 27

Author(s):

Paul Glaum ◽

Maria-Carolina Simao ◽

Chatura Vaidya ◽

Gordon Fitch ◽

Benjamin Iulinao

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Urban Development ◽

Foraging Strategies ◽

Environmental Drivers ◽

Bumble Bee ◽

Clear Understanding ◽

Native Bees ◽

Bee Conservation ◽

Native Bee ◽

Abundance And Diversity

Native bee populations are critical sources of pollination. Unfortunately, native bees are declining in abundance and diversity. Much of this decline comes from human land-use change. While the effects of large-scale agriculture on native bees are relatively well understood, the effects of urban development are less clear. Understanding urbanity's effect on native bees requires consideration of specific characteristics of both particular bee species and their urban landscape. We surveyed bumble-bee ( Bombus spp.) abundance and diversity in gardens across multiple urban centres in southeastern Michigan. There are significant declines in Bombus abundance and diversity associated with urban development when measured on scales in-line with Bombus flight ability. These declines are entirely driven by declines in females; males showed no response to urbanization. We hypothesize that this is owing to differing foraging strategies between the sexes, and it suggests reduced Bombus colony density in more urban areas. While urbanity reduced Bombus prevalence, results in Detroit imply that ‘shrinking cities’ potentially offer unique urban paradigms that must be considered when studying wild bee ecology. Results show previously unidentified differences in the effects of urbanity on female and male bumble-bee populations and suggest that urban landscapes can be managed to support native bee conservation.

Download Full-text

Along urbanization sprawl, exotic plants distort native bee (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) assemblages in high elevation Andes ecosystem

PeerJ ◽

10.7717/peerj.5916 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 6 ◽

pp. e5916 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Patricia Henríquez-Piskulich ◽

Alejandro Vera ◽

Gino Sandoval ◽

Cristian Villagra

Keyword(s):

High Altitude ◽

Plant Species ◽

Extreme Environments ◽

Exotic Plants ◽

High Elevation ◽

Native Bees ◽

Exotic Plant ◽

Exotic Plant Species ◽

Pollination Services ◽

Native Bee

Native bees contribute a considerable portion of pollination services for endemic as well as introduced plant species. Their decline has been attributed to several human-derived influences including global warming as well as the reduction, alteration, and loss of bees’ habitat. With human expansion comes along the introduction of exotic plant species with negative impacts over native ecosystems. Anthropic effects may even have a deeper impact on communities adapted to extreme environments, such as high elevation habitats, where abiotic stressors alone are a natural limitation to biodiversity. Among these effects, the introduction of exotic plants and urbanization may have a greater influence on native communities. In this work, we explored such problems, studying the relationship between the landscape and its effect over richness and abundance of native bees from the subandean belt in the Andes mountain chain. Furthermore, we investigated the effects of exotic plant abundance on this high-altitude bee assemblage. Despite the landscape not showing an effect over bee richness and abundance, exotic plants did have a significant influence over the native bee assemblage. The abundance of exotic plants was associated with a relative increase in the proportion of small and medium bee species. Moreover, Halictidae was the only family that appeared to be favored by an increase in the abundance of exotic plant species. We discuss these results and the urgent need for further research of high-altitude environments due to their vulnerability and high endemicity.

Download Full-text