Flower visitation and colony success of bumble bees in logged landscapes

Date
2014-08-08
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Abstract
This study examines behavioural and reproductive responses of bumble bees to clearcut logging, evaluating the joint influences of habitat conversion, logging amount, and floral abundance. I studied logging-induced changes in the distribution and abundance of bees across floral resources in 1.8 km2 study sites. Clearcuts were “magnet habitats” for bees, and logging amount was associated with deviations from an Ideal Free Distribution (IFD), such that undermatching consistently occurred in uncut forests, while deviations from an IFD in clearcuts depended on logging amount. Nest-searching queen bees chose artificial nest boxes as predicted by the IFD, but nest success was best explained by logging-altered resource tracking, with higher colony success in uncut forests, particularly flower-rich ones. Both studies suggest that bumble bees favour clearcuts, but not in a manner that optimizes fitness. Overall, I conclude that logging disrupts broad-scale foraging behaviour of bumble bees, potentially penalizing plants flowering in adjacent uncut forests.
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Ecology
Citation
Farmer, A. (2014). Flower visitation and colony success of bumble bees in logged landscapes (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/26191