Bye bye bumblebee - large bodied bees likely to decline due to climate change

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-04-20 09:01

International

Myriams-Fotos on pixabay

Bumblebees and honeycomb building bees are at risk of decline due to climate change, according to international researchers, who studied the way bees respond to changing climates in the US Rocky Mountains. The team used data from over 154 bee species gathered over eight years, finding conditions associated with climate change favour smaller, soil-nesting bees, and bees with more specialised diets. The authors warn that honeycomb building cavity-nesting bees, and larger-bodied bumblebees may start to decline as temperatures increase.

Media release

From: The Royal Society

Life history traits predict responses of wild bees to climate variation

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Life history traits, which are physical traits or behaviors that affect growth, survivorship, and reproduction, could play an important role in how organisms respond to climate change. By exploring trait-climate relationships, we can gain a more mechanistic understanding of why environmental change might favor certain species over others. Using an 8-year dataset containing over 20,000 bees we found that conditions associated with climate change favor smaller, soil-nesting bees, and bees with more specialized diets. Our results suggest that climate change will reshape bee pollinator communities and bee trait distribution, potentially leading to novel plant-pollinator interactions and changes in plant reproduction.

Attachments

Note: Not all attachments are visible to the general public. Research URLs will go live after the embargo ends.

Research The Royal Society, Web page URL will go live after the embargo lifts

Journal/
conference: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: North Carolina State University, USA

Funder: Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship DGE-1143953 to G.L.P., an NSF LTREB award to D.W.I. and R.E.I. (DEB-1354104), and funds from NC State University.

Media Contact/s

Contact details are only visible to registered journalists.