Habitat suitability for the invasion of Bombus terrestris in East Asian countries: A case study of spatial overlap with local Chinese bumblebees

Abstract

Invasive species such as Bombus terrestris represent a severe threat that can result in the decline of local biodiversity. We examined the habitat suitability for B. terrestris invasion in East Asian countries and the risk of habitat overlap with 24 bumblebee species from different groups in China. All East Asian countries were predicted to be susceptible to invasion by B. terrestris, with the highest habitat suitability occurring in China followed by Japan, North Korea, South Korea and Mongolia. Within China, which is a global biodiversity hotspot for bumblebees, three different regions, north-west, central to south-east and north-east, were predicted as being highly suitable for invasion. In China, the group of species closely related to B. terrestris showed higher sensitivity (89%) to habitat overlap with B. terrestris than did the group of non-closely related species (73%). The risk of overlap for the three major regional bumblebees within China decreased in the order southern region, northern region and Tibetan Plateau region. Due to the sensitivity of habitat suitability and overlap, the use of the introduced European bumblebee B. terrestris for pollination services should be discouraged in regions with overlapping habitats in China, and management strategies should be implemented to conserve the vulnerable bumblebees in all East Asian countries.

Modeling current and future global distribution of Chrysomya bezziana under changing climate

“…In other areas in the Middle East, the endemicity of flies increased because of a high suitability. This agreed with the FAO report about the geospatial demarcation of OWSF in the Middle East 51 . This report confirmed the influence of temperature on the potential distribution of OWSF in the Middle East.…”

“…Another powerful and updated predictive tool is Maxent. Maxent models are characterized by their robust predictive powers for the potential distribution of species 51 . Also, its statistical algorithm is accurate even with small occurrence records.…”

Reproductive Interference in an Introduced Bumblebee: Polyandry may Mitigate Negative Reproductive Impact

“…Indeed, analysis of habitat suitability modelling revealed that the susceptibility of invasion by B. terrestris is moderate in northern Honshu, while that in southern Honshu is minimal [58]. Similar results were obtained through MaxEnt analysis [59]. Therefore, we should concentrate our attention on controlling the invasive population of this species on Hokkaido, particularly around the two areas with valuable vegetation, Daisetsu and Notsuke-Furen (Figure 1).…”

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“…artificially rear this species in Taiwan (Ho et al 2002). Studies have predicted that large areas of overlapping habitat with imported Bombus terrestris will severely threaten many local bumblebee species, including B. bicoloratus (Naeem et al 2018). As a native species with potential for practical applications, the conservation of B. bicoloratus is of paramount importance.…”