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Bumble Bee Biology and

Natural History

RandyMitchellUniversityofAkron&TheOhioBeeSurvey

Bees are diverse and numerous • 4,000speciesofbeeinNorthAmerica

•  4xmorethanbirds•  6xmorethanbuIerflies•  10xmorethanmammals

WilsonandCarrill,Thebeesinyourbackyard

~Numberofspecies NorthAmerica World

Mammals 400 5,416

Birds 1000 9,956

Bees 4000 20,000

hIp://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0934288.htmlhIps://thefield.asla.org/2014/12/12/pollinators-the-city/

• Warmandfuzzy•  Abundant,recognizable•  Generalists-visitmanyplantspecies

•  VeryeffecZvepollinators•  AcZvethroughouttheyear

hIps://beetlesinthebush.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/the-joys-of-ecological-restoraZon/hIps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_Mrs._TiIlemouse

WaltMaciorUniv.Akron1926-2007

Why bumble bees?

bumblebeeconservaZon.org

Many crops are pollinated by bumble bees

•  Commercialimportanceaspollinators

•  MakeupforlossofApis•  Wildbees:>$20billionayearinpollinaZonservices

•  ~1ofevery3bitesoffoodrequiresapollinator

•  Mostwildplantsdependonanimalpollinators(>75%)

•  Intrinsicvalueofwildspecies

Bumble Bees are valuable!

Bumble bees are great pollinators

• ComparedtoHoneyBees:•  FasterandmoreeffecZve•  Matchsizewithmoreflowerspecies•  Ableto‘buzzpollinate’•  Canhandlemorecomplicatedordifficultflowers(e.g.,monkshood,boIlegenZan)

hIp://savebombus.blogspot.com/p/why-should-i-care.html

Seegaribaldietal.2013anddelaplane2000tobeefupfigureSeebreezeetal.2011forlowerfig

Tongue length (mm) 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Honey bee worker Bumblebee workerBumblebee queen

u  Queensarelarge

u  FirstfewworkersareZny

u  Gradualincreaseovertheseason

Thesebeesaresistersfromthesamenest.

Bombusimpa,ens

bumblebeeconservaZon.orgColumbusMetroparksvideo:hIps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYQ6A_PPmI4

BuzzPollinaZonFromSmithsonian:hIps://www.smithsonianchannel.com/videos/slo-mo-footage-of-a-bumble-bee-dislodging-pollen/44877

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BBC Video of warming queens

hIps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-o6e57AEGo

AcCve in cool condiCons •  80Fbodytemperaturerequiredforflight•  Shiveringallowsthemtomaintainhighbodytempswhennecessary

•  Especiallyqueensinthespring•  Butitcostsalotofenergy=nectar•  InsulaZonimportant

Volynchik et al. 2006. Microscopy Research and Technique 69: 903-912.

‘Warm-blooded’–highenergyrequirements=theyneedalotofflowers!

bumblebeeconservaZon.org

JamesThomsonhasasmallcolonyinaboxhereinColorado.ItookthisimagewithathermalcameraaterhepulledbackthecoIonoverlyingthenest.Queenisatlowerright.

Annual Colony Cycle

•  QueensmateinFallorlateSummer•  Overwinterindebrisandholes•  Spring:Establishcolonies

•  Findagoodspot-oldrodentdensorbirdnests,hollowlogs,tussocks,rockpiles

•  Queenprovisionsandincubatesfirstbrood

Williamsetal.2014hIps://medium.com/the-magazine/its-a-bumblebees-world-1147d0e1ab8a

Inside a newly founded bee nest

hIps://entomologytoday.org/2017/12/19/bumble-bee-queens-slower-to-start-colonies-ater-minimal-neonic-exposure/

Wu-Smart, J. and M. Spivak. 2018. Environmental Entomology

A thriving colony • Rarelyoverafewhundredworkers

•  Eachworkerlives2-5weeks

hIp://www.alexanderwild.com/keyword/bombus/i-nMjRNz3/A

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Annual Colony Cycle • Summer:forageandbuild• Fall:ReproducZves

• Dronesandnextyear’squeens• Producedinlatesummer• Workersandoldqueenandmalesalldie

Williamsetal.2014

Bees can learn from one another

Pollen Baskets

•  “Corbiculae”Bumblebee.org

hIp://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/B/bee.html

Loading the Pollen Basket • Pollenbrushedtoinsideofhindleg• Uses“pollenrake”tofill“pollenpress”

hIps://honeybeesuite.com/how-the-honey-bee-makes-pollen-pellets/

•  Straightenslegtoforcepollenuptooutsideofhindleg

•  Likesqueezingtoothpaste

Bumble bees have many specialized tools

hIp://www.bumblebee.org/bodyTongue.htm

hIp://infinitespider.com/buIerfly-proboscis-straw-sponge/

hIp://www.bumblebee.org/bodyHair.htmhIp://www.bumblebee.org/bodySZng.htm

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Tongue lengths differ among bee species •  Someare‘shorttongued’

• Othersare‘longtongued’

• ResourceparZZoning-accesstodifferentflowers

hIps://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/resource-parZZoning-and-why-it-maIers-17362658

hIps://p-s-y-l.blogspot.com/2015/07/july-update-animals.html?m=1

hIps://bugguide.net/node/view/560812/bgimage

hIps://www.growiser.net/photos-by-season.html

Tongue lengths

• Notjustdifferencesinoverallbodysize

• Numbersindicateweekofsampling

•  Biggerworkersovertheseasonformostspecies

Harder1985EcologyhIps://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1941320.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A0d5cc22a22e7a9afde390b43bccb491f

Bombusvagans

Bombusgriseocollis

hIps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH497_5zuy0

Foraging on Comfrey

hIps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFIuRDIC3sM

Nectar Robbing Comfrey

Compound Eyes and Bee vision

hIp://www.beeculture.com/bees-see-maIers/

hIps://beecare.bayer.com/media-center/beenow/detail/vision-science-how-bees-perceive-the-world

Color vision for bees – different than ours

hIps://fieldguidetohummingbirds.wordpress.com/2008/11/11/do-we-see-what-bees-see/

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Color vision for bees – different than ours

hIps://fieldguidetohummingbirds.wordpress.com/2008/11/11/do-we-see-what-bees-see/

Color vision for bees – different than ours

hIps://fieldguidetohummingbirds.wordpress.com/2008/11/11/do-we-see-what-bees-see/

hIp://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/arZcle-473897/A-bees-eye-view-How-insects-flowers-differently-us.html

OpCmal foraging • Beesmakedecisionsbasedon

• Costs:travelZme,searchZme,handlingZme• Benefits:rewardgained

• Seemtomaximizenetrateofgain=(benefit–cost)• Visitspecieswiththemostrewardandlowestcost•  Flyshortdistances• Ateralowreward:

•  Leaveearlier•  Flyfurther•  Turnless

•  Tendstomovefromthe‘coldspot’

How far do bumble bees travel for food?

•  UnZlrecentlyonlyanecdotes(displacementexperiments)

•  Canrangeto10km

•  Recently–Harmonicradarstudies!

hIps://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160804152719.htm

Woodgateteal.2016PLOShIp://www.theZmes.co.uk/arZcle/flight-of-bumblebee-suggests-they-have-unique-personaliZes-wdcvw298z

Recorded every flight by 4 bees •  ExploraZonvs.exploitaZonflights

•  Firstflights(green)explorethearea

•  Aterthat•  somebeesfocusonexploiZnganarea

•  Otherskeepexploring

Woodgate, J. L., et al. (2016). "Life-Long Radar Tracking of Bumblebees." PLoS ONE 11(8): e0160333.

ChangesinpollinatorspeciesvisiZngMimulusringens

Mimulusringens

Bombusgriseocollis B.vagans B.fervidus B.impa,ens B.auricomus

B.auricomus

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Resources •  Books

•  Heinrich.1979.BumblebeeEconomics.HarvardPress•  KearnsandThomson.2001.Thenaturalhistoryof

bumblebees.AsourcebookforinvesZgaZon.UniversityPressofColorado

•  Collaetal.2011.BumbleBeesoftheEasternUS.USDA/PollinatorPartnership(alsoavailableasafreePDFdownload)

•  Williamsetal.2014.BumblebeesofNorthAmerica:anidenZficaZonguide.PrincetonUniversityPress.

•  WilsonandCarrill.2016.Thebeesinyourbackyard.PrincetonUniversityPress

•  Websitesanddocuments•  hIp://bumblebeewatch.org/contents/•  hIp://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q•  hIp://www.xerces.org/bees/•  hIp://www.xerces.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/

conserving_bb.pdf•  hIp://u.osu.edu/beelab/ohio-bee-atlas/