Effects of land use at a landscape scale on bumblebee nest density and survival

By Dave Goulson, O. Lepais, Stephanie O'Connor, J. Osborne, R. Sanderson, J. Cussans, Louis Goffe, Ben Darvill. 2010

232 citations recorded by the source corpus.

1. We have little idea how landscape-scale factors influence the success of wild bumblebee nests over time. Here for the first time we use molecular markers to estimate within-season changes in the numbers of nests. 2. Workers of two bumblebee species were sampled in an arable landscape in late May–June and late July–August, and the numbers of nests represented in each sample were estimated. We compare the methods available to estimate nest number from such samples and conclude that methods which allow for heterogeneity in the probability of capture of nests provide the best fit to our data. Changes in numbers of nests at the two time points were used to infer nest survival. 3. The two bee species appeared to differ markedly in survival over time, with estimates of 45% of nests surviving for Bombus lapidarius and 91% for B. pascuorum. However, our data suggest that the foraging range of B. pascuorum may be greater in late season, which would lead us to overestimate nest survival in this species. Differential survival may also reflect differences in phenology between the two species. 4. The land use class which had the most consistent effects on nest number and survival was gardens; for B. lapidarius, the area of gardens within a 750 and 1000 m radius positively influenced nest survival, while for B. pascuorum, the number of nests in late samples was higher at sites with more gardens within a 500 and 750-m radius. For B. pascuorum, the area of grassland within a 250 and 500-m radius also positively influenced nest number in late samples, probably because this is the preferred nesting habitat for this species. 5. The importance of gardens is in accordance with previous studies which suggest that they now provide a stronghold for bumblebees in an otherwise impoverished agricultural environment; furthermore, our data suggest that the positive influence of gardens on bumblebee populations can spill over at least 1 km into surrounding farmland. 6. Synthesis and applications. The substantial effects that even small areas of local resources such as rough grassland or clover leys can have on bumblebee nest numbers and survival is of clear relevance for the design of pollinator management strategies.

Subfields: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Insect Science, Plant Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/06f64e9feac011d66ec54d3d9302256ec2651b5e

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Citations in the corpus

The PREDICTS database: a global database of how local terrestrial biodiversity responds to human impacts (2014, unknown): “…262 Nicolas et al. 2009; 263 Sakchoowong et al. 2008; 264 Yoshikura et al. 2011; 265 Hanley et al. 2011; 266 Connop et al. 2011; 267 Redpath et al. 2010; 268 Goulson et al. 2010; 269 Goulson et al. 2008; 270 Hatfield and LeBuhn 2007; 271 McFrederick and LeBuhn 2006; 272 Diek€otter et al. 2006;…”
Quantifying nectar production by flowering plants in urban and rural landscapes (2021, unknown): “Insect pol-linators capable of long-distance foraging (e.g. bumblebees) may be able to visit a combination of urban, farmland and semi-natural areas (such as nature reserves) from their nest site (Goulson et al., 2010; Osborne et al., 2008).”
Neonicotinoids, bee disorders and the sustainability of pollinator services (2013, unknown): “Additionally, suburban areas have become a stronghold for some wild bee species due to the abundance of floral resources in gardens and parks [87].”
Pollination reservoirs for wild bee habitat enhancement in cropping systems: a review (2017, methodology): “In the UK, Goulson et al. (2010) used microsatellite loci to determine colony number and abundance and found that the area of gardens within 750 meters predicted Bombus pascuorum colony survivorship.”
Protecting an ecosystem service: approaches to understanding and mitigating threats to wild insect pollinators (2016, background): “, 2008) and can restrict suitable nesting sites (Goulson et al., 2010; Knight et al., 389 2009; Williams et al., 2010).”
The city as a refuge for insect pollinators (2017, background): “…improving the wild pollinator populations in urban areas may also improve species richness and abundance in nearby agricultural lands via a spillover effect (Goulson et al. 2010), although the relative importance of cites as sources or sinks for pollinators is largely unknown (Gill et al. 2016).”
Quantifying variation among garden plants in attractiveness to bees and other flower‐visiting insects (2014, result): “This agrees with Goulson et al. (2010), who found evi- dence of positive influence of urban gardens on bumblebee nest density and survival on a landscape scale.”
Bee declines driven by combined stress from parasites, pesticides, and lack of flowers (2015, background): “Herbicides are highly effective at minimizing weed problems in most cropping systems, enabling farmers to grow near-pure monocultures, but their use inevitably reduces the availability of flowers for pollinators and can contribute substantially to rendering farmland an inhospitable environment for b”
What do we know about the effects of landscape changes on plant–pollinator interaction networks? (2013, unknown): “…complexity usually lead to the reduction of ﬂoral resources and nesting areas in the remaining available habitat patches, impairing population survival and reducing their overall diversity (Potts et al., 2003; Klein et al., 2004; Brosi et al., 2008; Jha and Vandermeer, 2009; Goulson et al., 2010).”
Opportunities to enhance pollinator biodiversity in solar parks (2021, background): “Although there were only eight pieces of evidence, positive effects of foraging resources on nest density, survival or construction were documented [79,106,114,127,131,132] and a high local ratio of foraging habitat to number of nests was suggested to reduce competition [133].”