Abstract

Bumblebee (Bombus spp.) populations have declined in recent decades in many countries. Since they are important pollinators of crops and wildflowers, their declines may have serious consequences for agriculture and wild ecosystems, and urgent conservation managements should be required for threatened bumblebee populations. In order to design effective conservation managements, nest density in a habitat is an essentially important information, since the genetically effective size of bumblebee populations is determined by the number of nests. In the present study, a novel method for estimating nest density using molecular genetic markers is proposed, by the use of the concept of neighborhood size in population genetics. Space-explicit simulation suggests that the proposed method could give a satisfactory estimate even under violation of underlaying assumptions. The proposed method is illustrated by applying to microsatellite data of a rare Japanese species B. cryptarum florilegus. Finally, usefulness and limitations of the method in the practical application are discussed, and an interpretation of the estimate is presented from a viewpoint of conservation genetics.

Implications for insect conservation

The proposed method could contribute to conservation of bumblebee populations through giving an estimate of genetically effective population size.

中文翻译：

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一种在没有明确定义栖息地区域的情况下估计大黄蜂种群巢密度的分子遗传方法

摘要

大黄蜂 ( Bombusspp.) 人口在近几十年来在许多国家下降。由于它们是农作物和野花的重要传粉者，它们的减少可能对农业和野生生态系统造成严重后果，因此应对受威胁的大黄蜂种群进行紧急保护管理。为了设计有效的保护管理，栖息地中的巢穴密度本质上是一个重要的信息，因为大黄蜂种群的遗传有效大小取决于巢穴的数量。在本研究中，通过使用种群遗传学中​​邻域大小的概念，提出了一种使用分子遗传标记估计巢穴密度的新方法。空间显式模拟表明，即使在违反基础假设的情况下，所提出的方法也可以给出令人满意的估计。B. cryptarum florilegus。最后，讨论了该方法在实际应用中的实用性和局限性，并从保护遗传学的角度对估计值进行了解释。

对昆虫保护的影响

所提出的方法可以通过估计遗传有效种群大小来促进大黄蜂种群的保护。