Open AccessJournal Article
Distribution and forage use of exotic bumblebees in South Island, New Zealand
Dave Goulson,Michael E Hanley +1 more
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Results provide support for the hypothesis that the loss of flower-rich meadows, particularly those containing populations of Fabaceae species with long corollae, is responsible for the decline of bumblebee species across Europe.Abstract:
The rapid decline in bumblebee populations within Europe has been linked to habitat loss through agricultural intensification, and a consequential reduction in the availability of preferred forage plants. The successful introduction of four European Bombus species to the South Island of New Zealand from England (in 1885 and 1906) provides an opportunity to determine how important different forage plants (also introduced from the U.K.) are to two severely threatened European bumblebee species (Bombus ruderatus and B. subterraneus). In January 2003 we conducted a survey of bumblebee populations across 70 sites in the central and southern South Island, recording which plant species were being used as pollen and nectar sources for each Bombus species. All four bumblebee species showed a clear preference for plants of European origin. Only B. terrestris, the most polylectic species, was recorded feeding on native plant species. The longer-tongued bumblebees, B. hortorum, B. ruderatus, and B. subterraneus, foraged predominantly on just two plant species; Trifolium pratense for both nectar and pollen, and Echium vulgare for nectar. These plant species are now declining in abundance in the U.K. Our results provide support for the hypothesis that the loss of flower-rich meadows, particularly those containing populations of Fabaceae species with long corollae, is responsible for the decline of bumblebee species across Europe. Comparison with earlier bumblebee surveys suggests that long-tongued bumblebees may also be in decline in New Zealand, particularly B. subterraneus which is now very localised and scarce.read more
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Going native? Flower use by bumblebees in English urban gardens
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Increased Tomato Yield Through Pollination by Native Australian Amegilla chlorocyanea (Hymenoptera: Anthophoridae)
TL;DR: Investigation of the effectiveness of Amegilla chlorocyanea Cockerell as a greenhouse pollinator of tomato shows that a single buzz by a female increases tomato weight by 11% compared with pollination by using an industrial pollination wand.
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Greenhouse bumblebees ( Bombus terrestris ) spread their genes into the wild
F. Bernhard Kraus,Hajnalka Szentgyörgyi,E. Rożej,M. Rhode,Dawid Moroń,Dawid Moroń,Michal Woyciechowski,Robin F. A. Moritz +7 more
TL;DR: Using microsatellite DNA data, strong genetic introgression from the sampled greenhouse populations into the adjacent populations is found and the number of individuals assigned to the greenhouse populations ranged from 0.08 to 0.47.
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Breeding system and pollination ecology of introduced plants compared to their native relatives.
TL;DR: This study quantifies the degree of autogamy and pollination ecology of 10 closely related pairs of native and introduced plant species at a single site near St. Louis, Missouri, USA and suggests that the success of most introduced plantspecies is because they are highly autogamous or because their pollinator visitation rates are similar to those of their native relatives.
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Improving international trade regulation by considering intraspecific variation for invasion risk assessment of commercially traded species: the Bombus terrestris case
TL;DR: It is shown that species-level models are less efficient than subspecies-based SDMs and that risk areas differ considerably between subspecies, which paves the way to novel policy-relevant guidelines to legislate for smart regulations instead of complete import interdictions.
References
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