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Bumble Bee Biology and Natural History Bees

in North America ~Number of species 4x more

than mammals Randy Mitchell University of

asla.org/2014/12/12/pollinators-the-city/ Why

Wilson and Carrill, The bees in your backyard

eﬀeczve pollinators AcZve throughout the year

for loss of Apis Wild bees: >$20 billion a

bites of food requires a pollinator Many crops

depend on animal pollinators (>75%) Intrinsic

1 Bumble Bee Biology and Natural History Bees are diverse and numerous 4,000 species of bee in North America ~Number of species 4x more than birds 6x more than buierﬂies 10x more than mammals Randy Mitchell University of Akron & The Ohio Bee Survey hips://theﬁeld.asla.org/2014/12/12/pollinators-the-city/ Why bumble bees? Wilson and Carrill, The bees in your backyard 400 Birds 1000 Bees 4000 hip:// Bumble Bees are valuable! Warm and fuzzy Abundant, recognizable Generalists- visit many plant species Very eﬀeczve pollinators AcZve throughout the year Commercial importance as pollinators Make up for loss of Apis Wild bees: >$20 billion a year in pollinazon services ~ 1 of every 3 bites of food requires a pollinator Many crops are pollinated by bumble bees Most wild plants depend on animal pollinators (>75%) Intrinsic value of wild species Walt Macior Univ. Akron hips://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/the_tale_of_mrs._tiilemouse bumblebeeconservazon.org hips://beetlesinthebush.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/the-joys-of-ecological-restorazon/ Bumble bees are great pollinators These bees are sisters from the same nest. See garibaldi et al and delaplane 2000 to beef up ﬁgure Compared to Honey Bees: Faster and more eﬀeczve Match size with more ﬂower species Able to buzz pollinate Can handle more complicated or diﬃcult ﬂowers (e.g., monkshood, boile genzan) Tongue length (mm) Honey bee worker Bumblebee worker Bumblebee queen Bombus impa,ens hip://savebombus.blogspot.com/p/why-should-i-care.html See breeze et al for lower ﬁg 20 Buzz PollinaZon From Smithsonian: hips:// Columbus Metroparks video: hips:// bumblebeeconservazon.org u Queens are large u First few workers are Zny u Gradual increase over the season North America Mammals 1

AcCve in cool condicons BBC Video of warming queens 80F body

body temps when necessary Especially queens in the spring But it costs

Microscopy Research and Technique 69: 903-912. bumblebeeconservazon.

James Thomson has a small colony in a box here in Colorado.

overlying the nest. Queen is at lower right. hips://www.youtube.

v=r-o6e57aego Annual Colony Cycle Queens mate in Fall or late Summer

spot - old rodent dens or bird nests, hollow logs, tussocks, rock piles

com/the-magazine/its-a-bumblebees-world-1147d0e1ab8a Williams et al.

2 AcCve in cool condicons BBC Video of warming queens 80F body temperature required for ﬂight Shivering allows them to maintain high body temps when necessary Especially queens in the spring But it costs a lot of energy = nectar InsulaZon important Volynchik et al Microscopy Research and Technique 69: bumblebeeconservazon.org Warm-blooded high energy requirements = they need a lot of ﬂowers! James Thomson has a small colony in a box here in Colorado. I took this image with a thermal camera ater he pulled back the coion overlying the nest. Queen is at lower right. hips:// Annual Colony Cycle Queens mate in Fall or late Summer Overwinter in debris and holes Spring: Establish colonies Find a good spot - old rodent dens or bird nests, hollow logs, tussocks, rock piles Queen provisions and incubates ﬁrst brood hips://medium.com/the-magazine/its-a-bumblebees-world-1147d0e1ab8a Williams et al A thriving colony Inside a newly founded bee nest Wu-Smart, J. and M. Spivak Environmental Entomology Rarely over a few hundred workers Each worker lives 2-5 weeks hips://entomologytoday.org/2017/12/19/bumble-bee-queens-slower-to-start-colonies-ater-minimal-neonic-exposure/ hip:// 2

3 Annual Colony Cycle Bees can learn from one another Summer: forage and build Fall: ReproducZves Drones and next year s queens Produced in late summer Workers and old queen and males all die Williams et al Pollen Baskets Corbiculae Bumblebee.org hip:// Bumble bees have many specialized tools Loading the Pollen Basket Pollen brushed to inside of hind leg Uses pollen rake to ﬁll pollen press hip:// hip:// hip://inﬁnitespider.com/buierﬂy-proboscis-straw-sponge/ Straightens leg to force pollen up to outside of hindleg Like squeezing toothpaste hips://honeybeesuite.com/how-the-honey-bee-makes-pollen-pellets/ hip:// 3

Tongue lengths differ among bee species Some are

parzzoningaccess to different flowers hips://p-s-y-l.

m=1 Tongue lengths Not just differences in overall

workers over the season for most species Bombus

4 Tongue lengths differ among bee species Some are short tongued Others are long tongued Resource parzzoningaccess to different flowers hips://p-s-y-l.blogspot.com/2015/07/july-update-animals.html?m=1 Tongue lengths Not just differences in overall body size Numbers indicate week of sampling Bigger workers over the season for most species Bombus vagans Bombus griseocollis hips:// hips://bugguide.net/node/view/560812/bgimage Harder 1985 Ecology hips:// Foraging on Comfrey Nectar Robbing Comfrey hips:// hips:// Compound Eyes and Bee vision Color vision for bees different than ours hips://fieldguidetohummingbirds.wordpress.com/2008/11/11/do-we-see-what-bees-see/ hips://beecare.bayer.com/media-center/beenow/detail/vision-science-how-bees-perceive-the-world hip:// 4

Color vision for bees diﬀerent than ours Color vision for

hips://ﬁeldguidetohummingbirds. hip://www.dailymail.co.

5 Color vision for bees diﬀerent than ours Color vision for bees diﬀerent than ours hips://ﬁeldguidetohummingbirds.wordpress.com/2008/11/11/do-we-see-what-bees-see/ hips://ﬁeldguidetohummingbirds.wordpress.com/2008/11/11/do-we-see-what-bees-see/ hip:// OpCmal foraging Bees make decisions based on Costs: travel Zme, search Zme, handling Zme Beneﬁts: reward gained Seem to maximize net rate of gain = (beneﬁt cost) Visit species with the most reward and lowest cost Fly short distances Ater a low reward: How far do bumble bees travel for food? UnZl recently only anecdotes (displacement experiments) Can range to 10km Recently Harmonic radar studies! hips:// Leave earlier Fly further Turn less Tends to move from the cold spot Woodgate te al PLOS hip:// Recorded every ﬂight by 4 bees Changes in pollinator species visizng Mimulus ringens B. auricomus ExploraZon vs. exploitazon ﬂights First ﬂights (green) explore the area Ater that some bees focus on exploizng an area Others keep exploring Woodgate, J. L., et al. (2016). "LifeLong Radar Tracking of Bumblebees." PLoS ONE 11(8): e Mimulus ringens Bombus griseocollis B. vagans B. fervidus B. impa,ens B. auricomus 5

Resources Books Heinrich. 1979. Bumblebee Economics.

University Press of Colorado Colla et al. 2011.

USDA/ Pollinator Partnership (also available as a free PDF

Bumble bees of North America: an idenzficazon guide.

6 Resources Books Heinrich Bumblebee Economics. Harvard Press Kearns and Thomson The natural history of bumblebees. A sourcebook for inveszgazon. University Press of Colorado Colla et al Bumble Bees of the Eastern US. USDA/ Pollinator Partnership (also available as a free PDF download) Williams et al Bumble bees of North America: an idenzficazon guide. Princeton University Press. Wilson and Carrill The bees in your backyard. Princeton University Press Websites and documents hip://bumblebeewatch.org/contents/ hip:// hip:// hip:// conserving_bb.pdf hip://u.osu.edu/beelab/ohio-bee-atlas/ 6

Pollinators. Pam Brown University of Florida/IFAS Extension, Retired

Pollinators. Pam Brown University of Florida/IFAS Extension, Retired Pollinators Pam Brown University of Florida/IFAS Extension, Retired What is Pollination Pollination is the transfer of pollen from male anther to female stigma resulting in fertilization. Pollination results