Bees are the most important pollinator taxon; therefore, understanding the scale at which they forage has important ecological implications and conservation applications. The foraging ranges for most bee species are unknown. Foraging distance information is critical for understanding the scale at which bee populations respond to the landscape, assessing the role of bee pollinators in affecting plant population structure, planning conservation strategies for plants, and designing bee habitat refugia that maintain pollination function for wild and crop plants. We used data from 96 records of 62 bee species to determine whether body size predicts foraging distance. We regressed maximum and typical foraging distances on body size and found highly significant and explanatory nonlinear relationships. We used a second data set to: (1) compare observed reports of foraging distance to the distances predicted by our regression equations and (2) assess the biases inherent to the different techniques that have been used to assess foraging distance. The equations we present can be used to predict foraging distances for many bee species, based on a simple measurement of body size.

/pdf/bee-foraging-ranges-and-their-relationship-to-body-size-27ta66i106.pdf

Bee foraging ranges and their relationship to body size.

Most ecological processes and interactions depend on scales much larger than a single habitat, and therefore it is important to link spatial patterns and ecological processes at a landscape scale. Here, we analyzed the effects of landscape context on the distribution of bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) at multiple spatial scales with respect to the following hypotheses: (1) Local abundance and diversity of bees increase with increasing proportion of the surrounding seminatural habitats. (2) Solitary wild bees, bumble bees, and honey bees respond to landscape context at different spatial scales. We selected 15 landscape sectors and determined the percentage of seminatural habitats and the diversity of habitat types at eight spatial scales (radius 250-3000 m) by field inspections and analyses of vegetation maps using two Geographic Information Systems. The percentage of semi- natural habitats varied between 1.4% and 28%. In the center of each landscape sector a patch of potted flowering plants (four perennial and two annual species) was placed in the same habitat type, a grassy field margin adjacent to cereal fields. In all, 865 wild bee individuals and 467 honey bees were observed and an additional 475 individuals were caught for species identification. Species richness and abundance of solitary wild bees showed a close positive correlation with the percentage of seminatural habitats at small scales up to 750 m, whereas bumble bees and honey bees did not respond to landscape context at these scales. In contrast, honey bees were correlated with landscape context at large scales. The densities of flower-visiting honey bees even increased with decreasing proportion of seminatural habitats at a radius of 3000 m. We are not aware of any empirical studies showing contrasting foraging patterns related to landscape context at different spatial scales. We conclude (1) that local landscape destruction affects solitary wild bees more than social bees, possibly changing mutualistic plant-pollinator and competitive wild bees- honey bees interactions and (2) that only analyses of multiple spatial scales may detect the importance of the landscape context for local pollinator communities.

Scale‐dependent effects of landscape context on three pollinator guilds

To counteract the decline of pollinators in Europe, conservation strategies traditionally focus on enhancing the local availability of semi-natural habitats, as supported by the European Union’s Common Agriculture Policy. In contrast, we show that densities of bumblebees, an important pollinator group in agroecosystems, were not determined by the proportion of semi-natural habitats in agricultural landscapes. Instead, bumblebee densities were positively related to the availability of highly rewarding mass flowering crops (i.e. oilseed rape) in the landscape. In addition, mass flowering crops were only effective determinants of bumblebee densities when grown extensively at the landscape scale, but not at smaller local scales. Therefore, future conservation measures should consider the importance of mass flowering crops and the need for management schemes at landscape level to sustain vital pollination services in agroecosystems.

http://www.bayceer.uni-bayreuth.de/toek1_pop/de/pub/html/EcolLett2003,6_961-965.pdf

Mass flowering crops enhance pollinator densities at a landscape scale

Maximum foraging ranges in solitary bees: only few individuals have the capability to cover long foraging distances

We review evidence from around the world for bumblebee declines and review management to mitigate threats. We find that there is evidence that some bumblebee species are declining in Europe, North America, and Asia. People believe that land-use changes may be having a negative effect through reductions in food plants in many parts of the world, but that other factors such as pathogens may be having a stronger effect for a few species in some regions (especially for Bombus s. str. in North America). Evidence so far is that greater susceptibility to land-use change is associated world-wide with small climatic ranges, range edges, and late-starting colony-development cycles. More evidence is needed on the roles of pollen specialization, nest sites, hibernation sites, and pesticides. It is still too early to assess the success of schemes aimed at improving forage in agricultural and conservation areas. However, schemes aimed at raising public awareness have been very successful. Until proven safe, we recommend that live bumblebees should not be moved across continents or oceans for commercial pollination.

/pdf/bumblebee-vulnerability-and-conservation-world-wide-tnmp62zzpa.pdf

Bumblebee vulnerability and conservation world-wide

Summary

1. Bumble bees play a vital role in the pollination of many crops and wild flowers, and plans for their conservation require a knowledge of the dynamics and spatial scale of their foraging flights, which are, at present, poorly understood.



2. We investigated the foraging range and constancy of two colonies of bumble bees Bombus terrestris L. on a mixed arable farm using harmonic radar, which has a unique capability to record the trajectories of insects flying at low altitude in the field.



3. Foraging bees were fitted with lightweight radar transponders and tracked as they flew to and from the nest to forage. The resulting tracks gave information on length, direction and straightness of foraging routes. Superimposition onto a map of the foraging landscape allowed interpretation of the bees’ destinations in relation to the spatial distribution of forage.



4. Outward tracks had a mean length of 275·3 ± 18·5 m (n = 65) and a range of 70–631 m, and were often to forage destinations beyond the nearest available forage. Most bees were constant to compass bearing and destination over successive trips, although one bee was tracked apparently switching between forage patches. Both outward and return tracks had a mean straightness ratio of 0·93 ± 0·01 (n = 99). The bees’ ground speeds ranged from 3·0 m s–1 to 15·7 m s–1 (n = 100) in a variety of wind conditions.



5. The results support the hypothesis that bumble bees do not necessarily forage close to their nest, and illustrate that studies on a landscape scale are required if we are to evaluate bee foraging ranges fully with respect to resource availability. Such evaluations are required to underpin assessments of gene flow in bee-pollinated crops and wild flowers. They are also required when making decisions about the management of bees as pollinators and the conservation of bee and plant biodiversity.

https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1046/j.1365-2664.1999.00428.x

R.J. Morris

Papers

A landscape-scale study of bumble bee foraging range and constancy, using harmonic radar