Wildlife conservation strategies should incorporate both taxon identity and geographical context ‐ further evidence with bumblebees

Abstract

Aim Among the numerous anthropogenic pressures threatening biodiversity, habitat destruction and climate change are pointed to as dominant. In response, a number of mitigation strategies are elaborated to save endangered living organisms. However, the taxonomic level and geographical extent at which conservation strategies should be designed and implemented remain generally unclear. Here, we aim to assess and discuss the importance to apply conservation strategies at an appropriate taxonomic scale. For this purpose, we focus our analyses on bumblebees (genus Bombus), a group of critically important and endangered pollinators. Location West‐Palaearctic. Methods We use a species distribution modelling approach to investigate and compare climatic and habitat‐related variables associated with the distribution of West‐Palaearctic bumblebees. Our analyses are based on a data set gathering more than 125,000 unique observation points for 68 species. Results We highlight species‐specific associations with climatic and land cover variables, depicting the strong relevance of taxon‐specific mitigation strategies for the conservation of those key pollinators. We also identify that the occurrence probability of localized and widespread species is mostly predicted by specific land cover characteristics and climatic conditions, respectively. Finally, we report the general absence of phylogenetic signal associated with the relative importance of each environmental variable in species distribution models, underlining the difficulty to predict species‐specific environmental requirements based on evolutionary relationships. Main conclusions In the light of these results, we conclude that climate change and landscape destruction are not expected to drive the fate of all bumblebee species in a same direction, even for phylogenetically close lineages. We argue in favour of geographically and taxonomically adapted conservation strategies and discuss the limitations of untargeted action plans for species with different climatic/habitat requirements.

Resolving the species status of overlooked West‐Palaearctic bumblebees

“…The effective conservation of bumblebees ultimately relies on both the precise knowledge of their distribution and an unambiguous identification (Ghisbain et al., 2020). Although bumblebees constitute one of the most studied groups of bees worldwide, much work remains to clarify the taxonomy of the genus.…”

A worthy conservation target? Revising the status of the rarest bumblebee of Europe

“…The parameters for the analysis and check for stationarity follow Ghisbain et al . (2020a,b) and subsequent mixed yule‐coalescent model for species delimitation (bGMYC) follows Reid and Carstens (2012) (both analyses detailed in Appendix 2 of the Supporting Information). Newly obtained genetic sequences were deposited on GenBank (accession number MZ093449).…”

“…Apart from a conservation perspective, bumblebees have become an increasingly popular model in the fields of evolutionary biology (Tian et al ., 2019), biogeography (Williams et al ., 2018; Ghisbain et al ., 2020b) and integrative taxonomy (Martinet et al ., 2019; Williams et al ., 2020). However, despite the long history of classical taxonomic work (i.e.…”

Assessment and conservation status of an endemic bee in a diversity hotspot (Hymenoptera, Melittidae, Dasypoda)

“…The IUCN status assessed here, Endangered with the code B1a + B2a, closely recalls those of the other threatened Dasypoda that were all assessed at least with the criterion B2a (accompanied with b[iii]), a threat related to a combination of an overall small AOO, severely fragmented habitats or a low number of locations, and a continuous decline estimated for the quality of the habitat. These criteria are shared with a large number of other threatened bees in Europe (Nieto et al 2014), highlighting the need to preserve the most suitable natural habitats for the bee fauna of the continent (Michez et al 2019;Ghisbain et al 2020b). The criterion b(iii), associated with a continuous decline of habitat quality, is not appropriate for the status of D. michezi given that the whole known distribution of the species is included in a protected area, the Parque Natural do Sudoeste Alentejano e Costa Vicentina.…”

“…As for all other animals, nevertheless, the effective species-level conservation of bees relies on an unambiguous taxonomic delineation and identification. This principle is well exemplified in Red Lists and large-scale biogeographic studies for which species inventories and occurrence records constitute the starting point for geographic projections and assessments (Nieto et al 2014;Rasmont et al 2015;Ghisbain et al 2020b).…”