Investigating the relationship between <i> Bombus appositus </i> abundance and its overlap with key floral resources

Abstract

Many species of bumble bees (Bombus spp.) are experiencing population declines. In subalpine ecosystems, climate change is altering floral phenology by causing an earlier blooming period, which creates a growing season with sparser resources. Since bumble bees and their floral resources depend on phenological overlap for their mutualistic relationship to function, it is possible that changing floral phenologies could negatively impact pollinators. Bombus appositus is a pollinator of concern due its relatively narrow diet breadth and variable population abundance in the past seven years of study in the subalpine ecosystems near the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL). In this study, we explored the relationship between B. appositus worker abundance and the number of weeks of phenological overlap between bees and floral resources from 2015 - 2020. We also compared B. appositus worker abundance with the total floral abundance of B. appositus’ four key floral resources. We found no relationship between the number of weeks of phenological overlap and worker abundance, but we found a strong positive relationship between worker abundance and floral resource abundance. Overall, years with more floral resources gave rise to greater colony growth as measured in worker abundance. Floral abundance is strongly tied to climate conditions, which means that in the future, it will be increasingly important to understand how floral abundance varies with climate since the quantity of floral resources will ultimately impact bumble bee populations.

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