Effect of Different Temperatures on Colony Characteristics of Bombus terrestris (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

Nasir, Muhammad; Mohsan, Ata-ul; Ahmad, Munir; Saeed, Shafqat; Aziz, Muhammad Hammad; Imran, Muhammad; Sheikh, Umer Ayyaz Aslam

doi:10.17582/journal.pjz/2019.51.4.1315.1322

Cited by 7 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…This result is in agreement with Nasir et al. (2019), which reported that the greatest number of new queens was produced in the 30°C temperature treatments. In another laboratory experiment, Holland and Bourke (2015) also reported that an increase of 5°C improved the reproductive success of B. terrestris colonies, with an increase in the production of workers, males and queens.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Interactions among global change pressures act in a non‐additive way on bumblebee individuals and colonies

et al. 2020

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Insect‐mediated pollination is fundamental for terrestrial ecosystems as well as for crop production. However, bee populations are declining as a consequence of different global change pressures. Even though these pressures do not act in isolation, their interactive effects have received less attention. Through a cross‐treatment field experiment with Bombus terrestris colonies, we analysed the joint effect of climate warming, exposure to pesticides and landscape transformation on bumblebee development variables related to individual and colony fitness. Our results show that an average increase of 1.62°C in the presence of high resource availability in the landscape increases the number of individuals of all colony castes. However, temperature increase is only favourable when foraging resources are not limiting. This is partly because under elevated temperatures, colonies can develop faster but also need to invest more in wax and silk material to protect the offspring and to cool the colony. We also found a decrease in the number of male production with exposure to pesticides. At the individual level, colonies exposed to increased temperatures produced larger queens and workers, and at the same time, all castes presented less variability in body size. In addition, we observed a reduction in queen size with increasing resource availability. Our experiment indicates that the interaction between global change pressures can be non‐additive and that colony‐level emergent properties of social species could buffer some of the individual impacts of these pressures. Hence, it is necessary to consider not only the joint effects of global change pressures but also the plasticity of the organisms' responses. This would help us to predict how populations will respond to these stressors in a complex real world and how species life‐history traits could modulate their adverse effects through complex phenotypic plastic responses. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Interactions among global change pressures act in a non‐additive way on bumblebee individuals and colonies

et al. 2020

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“…Although we observed a similar trend, the absolute number of queens produced was much lower in our colonies, suggesting that the pace of queen production was slower and that additional weeks of colony development could have increased the total number of sexuals. In contrast with our findings, Nasir et al (2019) found that queen production decreased at 32 °C. The higher investment in the production of queens in warmer conditions may counteract the detrimental impacts of high stressful temperatures during punctual events like heat waves.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, in our study, the queen production was also advanced at the higher developmental temperature, starting several weeks before the colonies reared at 25 °C. This is congruent with the results of Nasir et al (2019) which also find the shortest queen emergence time at the higher temperature. This switch point is a key event during bumblebee life cycle: it marks the investment transition from growth of the colony (i.e.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…We also found that workers that developed under the elevated temperature had a smaller body size, an effect that was not observed among males. Like in the present study, Nasir et al (2019) highlighted an increase of queen production when rearing temperature increased from 24 °C to 30 °C. Although we observed a similar trend, the absolute number of queens produced was much lower in our colonies, suggesting that the pace of queen production was slower and that additional weeks of colony development could have increased the total number of sexuals.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

“…Favourable temperatures for colony development vary between species and studies. Indeed, different studies identified 25 °C (Holland and Bourke 2015), 27-29 °C (Weidenmüller et al 2002) or 28-30 °C (Nasir et al 2019) as optimal temperatures for colony longevity, individual longevity, colony productivity as well as thermoregulatory behaviour. The temperature at which bumblebees increase fanning intensity (indicating heat stress) also differs between studies -from 29 °C (Weidenmüller et al 2002) to 32 °C (Grad and Gradisek 2018) -leading to changes in the allocation of energy towards thermoregulation, which may affect other aspects of colony life.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Higher developmental temperature increases queen production and decreases worker body size in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris

Guiraud¹,

Cariou²,

Henrion³

et al. 2021

JHR

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Climate change and increasing average temperatures are now affecting most ecosystems. Social insects such as bumblebees are especially impacted because these changes create spatial, temporal and morphological mismatches that could impede their ability to find food resources and mate. However, few studies have assessed how the colony and life cycle are affected when temperatures rise above optimal rearing temperature. It has become imperative to understand how heat stress affects the life history traits of insect pollinators as well as how changes in life history interact with other traits like morphology. For example, a decrease in the number of foraging workers could be balanced by producing larger workers, able to forage at longer distances and gather more resources. Here, we investigated the impact of temperature on colony production and body size in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris. Colonies were exposed to two temperatures: 25 °C, which is around the optimal temperature for larval development and 33 °C, which is slightly above the set-point that is considered stressful for bumblebees. Although the production of males and workers wasn’t significantly affected by these different temperatures, queen production and reproductive investment were much higher for colonies placed in 33 °C than in 25 °C. We also found that, in agreement with the temperature-size rule, workers were significantly smaller in the higher temperature. The decrease in worker body size could affect resource collection and pollination if their foraging distance and the quantity of food they are taking back to the colony decreases. While in our controlled conditions the bumblebees were fed ad libitum, the decrease of resource collection in field conditions could prevent colonies from producing as many queens as in our study. Together with the decrease of worker body size, our results suggest that elevated temperatures could ultimately have a negative impact on bumblebee colony fitness. Indeed, smaller workers are known to have weaker flight performance which could affect foraging performance and consequently colony development.

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Rising temperatures threaten pollinators of fig trees—Keystone resources of tropical forests

Kolfschoten

Dück

Lind

et al. 2022

Ecology and Evolution

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Pollinating insects are decreasing worldwide in abundance, biomass, and species richness, affecting the plants that rely on pollinators for fruit production and seed set. Insects are often sensitive to high temperatures. The projected temperature increases may therefore severely affect plants that rely on insect pollinators. Highly specialized mutualisms are expected to be particularly vulnerable to change because they have fewer partner options should one partner become unavailable. In the highly specialized mutualism between fig trees and their pollinating fig wasp, each fig species is pollinated by only one or a few wasp species. Because of their year‐round fruit production, fig trees are considered a keystone resource for tropical forests. However, to produce fruits, wild fig trees need to be pollinated by fig wasps that typically travel a long one‐way trip from the tree donating pollen to the tree receiving pollen. In a few previous studies from China and Australia, increasing temperatures dramatically decreased fig wasp lifespan. Are these grim results generalizable to fig mutualisms globally? Here, we use survival experiments to determine the effect of increasing temperature on the lifespan of Neotropical fig wasps associated with five common Panamanian Ficus species. Experimental temperatures were based on the current daytime mean temperature of 26.8°C (2SD: 21.6–31.7°C) and the predicted local temperature increase of 1–4°C by the end of the 21st century. We found that all tested pollinator wasp species had a significantly shorter lifespan in 30, 32, 34, and 36°C compared to the current diurnal mean temperature of 26°C. At 36°C pollinator median lifespan decreased to merely 2–10 h (6%–19% of their median lifespan at 26°C). Unless wasps can adapt, such a dramatic reduction in lifespan is expected to reduce the number of pollinators that successfully disperse to flowering fig trees, and may therefore jeopardize both fruit set and eventually survival of the mutualism.

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Effect of Different Temperatures on Colony Characteristics of Bombus terrestris (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

Cited by 7 publications

References 0 publications

Interactions among global change pressures act in a non‐additive way on bumblebee individuals and colonies

Interactions among global change pressures act in a non‐additive way on bumblebee individuals and colonies

Higher developmental temperature increases queen production and decreases worker body size in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris

Rising temperatures threaten pollinators of fig trees—Keystone resources of tropical forests

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Effect of Different Temperatures on Colony Characteristics of Bombus terrestris (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

Cited by 7 publications

References 0 publications

Interactions among global change pressures act in a non‐additive way on bumblebee individuals and colonies

Interactions among global change pressures act in a non‐additive way on bumblebee individuals and colonies

﻿Higher developmental temperature increases queen production and decreases worker body size in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris

Rising temperatures threaten pollinators of fig trees—Keystone resources of tropical forests

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Product

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Higher developmental temperature increases queen production and decreases worker body size in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris