Declines in forage availability for bumblebees at a national scale

By C. Carvell, David Roy, Simon M. Smart, Richard F. Pywell, Chris D. Preston, Dave Goulson. 2006

409 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We assessed national scale changes in the forage plants of bumblebees in Britain, as a means of providing quantitative evidence for the likely principal cause of declines in bumblebee species. We quantified the relative value of native and long-established plant species as forage (nectar and pollen) resources for bumblebees by collating visitation data from 14 field sites across Britain. Twentieth Century changes in range and frequency of these forage plants were assessed using data from the New Atlas of the British and Irish Flora (1930–1969 to 1987–1999) and the Countryside Surveys of Britain (1978–1998). Forage plants declined in both large-scale range and local-scale frequency between the two survey periods. These changes were of greater magnitude than changes in other native plant species, reflecting serious reductions in quality of foraging habitats for bees as well as a general decline in insect-pollinated plants. Seventy-six percent of forage plants declined in frequency within 1-km squares, including those (e.g. Trifolium pratense) of particular value for threatened bumblebee species. We consider how our findings relate to other recorded changes in the British flora, how they may help to explain declines in bumblebees and how they could contribute to a conservation strategy.

Subfields: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Nature and Landscape Conservation, Plant Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/d0d82d8044e5f344e8cd65e6b7d6ec7869a83d75

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Citations in the corpus

Pollinator-friendly management does not increase the diversity of farmland bees and wasps (2015, background): “The loss of meadows and leys rich in Fabaceae has been particularly associated with bumblebee declines (Carvell et al., 2006; Williams and Osborne, 2009), and many species that have declined substantially have likewise been shown to collect a larger proportion of their pollen from Fabaceae (Goulson ”
Flower plantings increase wild bee abundance and the pollination services provided to a pollination-dependent crop (2014, background): “Several factors associated with increased farming intensity to support growing human populations can limit the suitability of farm environments for insect pollinators, including reduction in natural areas, habitat fragmentation and scarcity of flowering food and nesting resources (Carvell et al. 200”
Intensification of agriculture, landscape composition and wild bee communities: a large scale study in four European countries. (2010, background): “, 2007, 2008; Rajaniemi, 2002) but also on field boundaries (Carvell et al., 2006; Hyvönen et al., 2003; Kleijn and Verbeek, 2000); (2) Natural grasslands are recognized as habitats of major interest for bees as they offer rich floral resources (Morandin et al.”
Decline of bumble bees (Bombus) in the North American Midwest (2009, background): “…1991; Kevan, 1991; Buchmann and Nabhan, 1996; Goulson , 2003; Memmott et al., 2004; Pywell et al., 2006; Goulson et al., 2008), and declines in their abundance and distribution have serious ecological and economic ramifications (Corbet et al., 1991; Biesmeijer et al., 2006; Carvell et al., 2006).”
Interacting effects of farming practice and landscape context on bumble bees (2008, background): “…and intensification of farming practises, e.g. increased use of pesticides and fertilizers (agrochemicals) which directly and indirectly affect organisms both in the fields and in nearby habitats (Kevan, 1975; Chamberlain et al., 2000; Kremen . et al., 2002; Roy et al., 2003; Carvell et al., 2006).”
Cryptic species diversity in a widespread bumble bee complex revealed using mitochondrial DNA RFLPs (2008, background): “Bumble bees (Hymenoptera: 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; Fi”
Pollination services in the UK: how important are honeybees? (2011, background): “…and distribution of wild bees, butterflies, hoverflies and wild plants during the last 50 years (Biesmeijer et al , 2006; Thomas et al , 2004; Carvell et al , 2006) and a 54% fall in honeybee hive numbers in England between 1985 and 2005 (Potts et al , 2010b), raising concerns over the…”
Pollination services provided to small and large highbush blueberry fields by wild and managed bees (2010, background): “The combined effect of these practices is expected to reduce the suitability of such fields for wild bees, thereby limiting the services they can provide to nearby crop fields (Corbet, Saville & Osborne 1994; Steffan-Dewenter & Tscharntke 1999; Carvell et al. 2006; Kleijn & van Langevelde 2006; Fitz”
How well do we understand landscape effects on pollinators and pollination services (2012, background): “…in the abundance of foraging plants to bee Received 31 August 2011, accepted 7 May 2012 *Corresponding author; email: blandefv@ufba.br conservation (Carvell et al. 2006, based on 14 datasets); ii) the effect of habitat fragmentation on plant reproduction (Aguillar et al. 2006, based on 54…”
Evidence for decline in eastern North American bumblebees (Hymenoptera: Apidae), with special focus on Bombus affinis Cresson (2008, background): “Firstly, the loss of food plants with long corollas (such as legumes) has been implicated in the decline of long-tongued species (Williams 1988, 1989; Goulson et al. 2005; Carvell et al. 2006; Rasmont et al. 2006).”
Chronic impairment of bumblebee natural foraging behaviour induced by sublethal pesticide exposure (2014, background): “Multiple factors have been implicated as causes of bee declines (Vanbergen et al. 2013) including habitat loss (e.g. Carvell et al. 2006; Kre- men et al. 2007), pathogens and disease (e.g. Cox-Foster *Correspondence author.”
Quantifying nectar production by flowering plants in urban and rural landscapes (2021, positive): “Large-scale changes to land use and management intensity have resulted in the landscape-level depletion of floral resources, which provide food for insect pollinators (Baude et al., 2016; Carvell et al., 2006).”
Larger wildflower plantings increase natural enemy density, diversity, and biological control of sentinel prey, without increasing herbivore density (2012, background): “Beneficial insect abundance and diversity are declining in a variety of landscapes as a result of habitat loss and agricultural intensification (Goverde et al., 2002; Carvell et al., 2006).”
Changes in nectar supply: A possible cause of widespread butterfly decline (2012, background): “Moreover, the data analyzed have only been linked indirectly to changes in pollinator occurrence (e.g. Biesmeijer et al., 2006; Carvell et al., 2006; Kleijn and Raemakers, 2008).”