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Effects of Climate Variability on Queen Production and Pollen Preferences of Neotropical Bumblebee Bombus atratus in a High Andean Suburban Condition

  • Insect Pollinators
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Abstract

Bombus atratus Franklin is a widely distributed bumblebee of South America. In Colombia, this species is recognized for its ability to adapt to highly disturbed habitats. However, knowledge of its ecology is poorly known, in particular conditions to ensure the long-term conservation of its populations. Identification of pollen resources is an important issue that could be used as a tool to manage and conserve bumblebees. In tropical areas, rainfall patterns could affect floral phenology and therefore the availability of pollen resources. Considering this, the present work aimed to establish the effect of extreme weather conditions (El Niño) in pollen availability, use of pollinic sources, and gyne production in B. atratus colonies. We reared and located 14 B. atratus colonies in a suburban area during a dry season (ENSO “El Niño”) and a rainy season (ENSO “La Niña”). We registered time to gyne production and numbers of gynes produced per colony. We extracted pollen samples to establish both its floral origin and its relative abundance. We measured floral offer for each season. The data of pollen use per colony were utilized to perform Bipartite networks. We analyzed the production of gynes and pollen use per season with correlation models and generalized linear models. Colonies of the rainy season produced more gynes and faster. The floral diversity and offer were higher during the rainy season. Successful colonies used specific pollen sources in two seasons, independently of the floral offer. Extreme dry season affected development of B. atratus colonies.

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Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Claudia Ines da Silva for support in palynology analysis and Paola Cruz Suarez and Ricardo Perez Alvarez for reviewing the text.

Funding

The study was financially supported by the Administrative Department of Science Technology and Innovation of Colombia – Colciencias and Nueva Granada University (CIAS-2296).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nueva Granada Univ, Cajicá, Colombia

    D. Riaño-Jiménez, M. Guerrero, P. Alarcón & J. R. Cure

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  1. D. Riaño-Jiménez
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  2. M. Guerrero
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  3. P. Alarcón
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  4. J. R. Cure
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Contributions

DRJ: funding acquisition, planned, designed, conducted data analysis, wrote the manuscript; MG and PA: execute experimental work, conducted data analysis, wrote the manuscript; JRC: wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to D. Riaño-Jiménez.

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Riaño-Jiménez, D., Guerrero, M., Alarcón, P. et al. Effects of Climate Variability on Queen Production and Pollen Preferences of Neotropical Bumblebee Bombus atratus in a High Andean Suburban Condition. Neotrop Entomol 49, 586–594 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13744-019-00758-6

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