Does specialization explain rarity and decline among British bumblebees? A response to Goulson et al.

By Paul H Williams. 2005

140 citations recorded by the source corpus.

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

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a29a9da9d4c76739f77895f40f68087760a80a13

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In Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

In Genetics

In Insect Science

Citations in the corpus

Biotope Associations and the Decline of Bumblebees (Bombus spp.) (2006, background): “They are all widespread in Europe and, with the possible exception of the long-tongued B. hortorum, are known to have broad diets (Williams 1982, 1989, 2005; Goulson et al. 2005).”
Cryptic species diversity in a widespread bumble bee complex revealed using mitochondrial DNA RFLPs (2008, background): “…Apidae, genus Bombus) are of great ecological and economic importance in temperate terrestrial ecosystems as major pollinators yet they are a currently declining group (Williams 1986, 2005; Kearns et al. 1998; Goulson 2003; Goulson et al. 2005, 2006; Carvell et al. 2006; Fitzpatrick et al. 2007).”
A field experiment on the effect of Nosema bombi in colonies of the bumblebee Bombus terrestris (2008, background): “The major causes of this decline are thought to relate to changes in the use of agricultural land ( Goulson et al. , 2005; Williams, 2005 ), but also the effects of parasites could play a role – at least, when they hit populations that are diminishing for other reasons.”
The same, but different: pollen foraging in honeybee and bumblebee colonies (2011, background): “Some authors tried to overcome this field work-related bias by sampling greater numbers of bees to get a representative estimate of the plant species used, by sampling pollen loads throughout the lifetime of a species’ colonies, and by collecting different species from the same areas to make sure th”
The distribution of bumblebee colour patterns worldwide: possible significance for thermoregulation, crypsis, and warning mimicry (2007, background): “One of the most important bumblebee habitats (Williams, 1988, 2005) that is most reliably of one colour is flower-rich tall grassland.”
Quantifying and comparing bumblebee nest densities in gardens and countryside habitats (2007, background): “Williams (2005) proposes that it may not be simply food plant availability, but overall niche breadth and the degree of climatic and habitat specialization that indicate the risk of decline for a species.”
Can commercially imported bumble bees out‐compete their native conspecifics? (2006, background): “Journal compilation © 2006 British Ecological Society, Journal of Applied Ecology , 43 , 940‐948 face of world-wide declines of pollinators (Kearns, Inouye & Waser 1998; Steffan-Dewenter, Potts & Packer 2005), including bumble bees (Sarospataki, Novak & Molnar 2005; Williams 2005 ), it is more impo”
Diet breadth, coexistence and rarity in bumblebees (2008, background): “wurflenii) are among the most widespread and abundant of European bumblebee species, presumably because they have broad climatic tolerances that allow them to thrive at both a range of altitudes and latitudes (Williams 2005).”
Can vulnerability among British bumblebee (Bombus) species be explained by niche position and breadth (2007, methodology): “However, the coarse spatial resolution of these data (compiled to study biogeographic regions) is problematic for gauging with precision the species’ climatic niches (Williams, 2005).”
Declines in forage availability for bumblebees at a national scale (2006, methodology): “The causes of rarity and decline among British bumblebees have recently been discussed by Goulson et al. (2005) and Williams (2005).”
Biodiversity, species interactions and ecological networks in a fragmented world (2012, background): “Local pollination networks trapped in single fragments tend to have higher connectance, because species number decreases and generalists are expected to survive better than specialists (Barbaro and van Halder, 2009; Girao et al., 2007; Koh, 2007; Steffan-Dewenter and Tscharntke, 2002; Williams, 2005”
The effect of grazing on bumblebees in the high rangelands of the eastern Tibetan Plateau of Sichuan (2008, background): “Because bumblebees have food-plant preferences (e.g. Williams 1989, 2005; Osborne et al. 1999; Osborne and Williams 2001) and nest-site preferences (Svensson et al. 2000; Kells and Goulson 2003), they should face increasing constraints when suitable habitats become fragmented, which might lead to…”
Decline of bumble bees (Bombus) in the North American Midwest (2009, background): “Another hypothesis proposes that niche specialization, including preferred climate and habitat, may interact with food-plant availability to make species at the edge of their distribution more vulnerable to declines (Williams, 1985, 2005).”