Nowhere to go but Up: Investigating Bumble Bee population Shifts over Elevational Gradients
Abstract
Bumble bees are important pollinators in both the wild and in agriculture; however, several species globally are under threat due to multiple anthropogenic factors. One of these threats is climate change, and many bumble bee species have adapted by moving up in elevation. This has only been observed in specific species, but it does stand to question that with the most recent dramatic global temperature increases, if this will become standard for all species. While this provides the benefit of keeping to a thermal environment necessary for survival and reproduction, competition facilitated by mass migration and isolation could be driving some species further towards extinction. Therefore, it is necessary to understand how species distributions have changed across elevation gradients over the past few years and to understand the mechanisms involved. Results indicate a lack of significance in the data, leading to inconclusive results for the proposed hypotheses. Further experimenting with additional years and low and high elevation sites is necessary to fully evaluate how species are moving.
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