| an interspecific comparison of foraging range and nest density of four bumblebee (bombus) species. | bumblebees are major pollinators of crops and wildflowers in northern temperate regions. knowledge of their ecology is vital for the design of effective management and conservation strategies but key aspects remain poorly understood. here we employed microsatellite markers to estimate and compare foraging range and nest density among four uk species: bombus terrestris, bombus pascuorum, bombus lapidarius, and bombus pratorum. workers were sampled along a 1.5-km linear transect across arable farm ... | 2005 | 15836652 |
| bumblebees experience landscapes at different spatial scales: possible implications for coexistence. | coexistence in bumblebee communities has largely been investigated at local spatial scales. however, local resource partitioning does not fully explain the species diversity of bumblebee communities. theoretical studies provide new evidence that partitioning of space can promote species coexistence, when species interact with their environment at different spatial scales. if bumblebee species possess specific foraging ranges, different spatial resource utilisation patterns might operate as an ad ... | 2006 | 16758219 |
| cytological variation and pathogenicity of the bumble bee parasite nosema bombi (microspora, nosematidae). | in three field seasons, 2003-2005, bumble bees were collected in southern sweden and eastern denmark in search of microsporidian parasites. of the 16 bumble bee species studied, microsporidia were found in bombus hortorum, bombus hypnorum, bombus lapidarius, bombus lucorum, bombus pascuorum, bombus pratorum, bombus ruderarius, bombus subterraneus and bombus terrestris. only one microsporidian species, nosema bombi, was recorded. a microsporidium found in b. pratorum differed cytologically from m ... | 2007 | 17005191 |
| Molecular detection of Spiroplasma apis and Spiroplasma melliferum in bees. | Spiroplasma apis and Spiroplasma melliferum are known as honey bee pathogens and are detected by unspecific methodologies like culturing or dark field microscopy. We developed a multiplex PCR being able to differentiate between both species and detect the genus Spiroplasma. This PCR can directly be used on culture samples or on DNA extracted bees. By PCR on cultured samples we were able to identify S. apis in Bombus pratorum and S. melliferum in Bombus pascuorum. | 2012 | 22138255 |
| varroa destructor macula-like virus, lake sinai virus and other new rna viruses in wild bumblebee hosts (bombus pascuorum, bombus lapidarius and bombus pratorum). | pollinators such as bumblebees (bombus spp.) are in decline worldwide which poses a threat not only for ecosystem biodiversity but also to human crop production services. one main cause of pollinator decline may be the infection and transmission of diseases including rna viruses. recently, new viruses have been discovered in honeybees, but information on the presence of these in wild bumblebees is largely not available. in this study, we investigated the prevalence of new rna viruses in bombus s ... | 2016 | 26706994 |
| the abundance and pollen foraging behaviour of bumble bees in relation to population size of whortleberry (vaccinium uliginosum). | habitat fragmentation can have severe effects on plant pollinator interactions, for example changing the foraging behaviour of pollinators. to date, the impact of plant population size on pollen collection by pollinators has not yet been investigated. from 2008 to 2010, we monitored nine bumble bee species (bombus campestris, bombus hortorum s.l., bombus hypnorum, bombus lapidarius, bombus pascuorum, bombus pratorum, bombus soroensis, bombus terrestris s.l., bombus vestalis s.l.) on vaccinium ul ... | 2012 | 23209721 |
| the life-history impact and implications of multiple parasites for bumble bee queens. | most studies of the consequences of parasitism on fitness have examined single host-parasite systems. however, parasitological studies show that most hosts are constantly challenged by a complex parasite community. thus, neither the response of hosts to individual parasite species nor the individual impact of these parasite species is likely to be as unconstrained as studies of single host-parasite systems might suggest. in this study, the parasite community structure in spring queens of the com ... | 2008 | 18164709 |
| floral display size in comfrey, symphytum officinale l. (boraginaceae): relationships with visitation by three bumblebee species and subsequent seed set. | the fecundity of insect-pollinated plants may not be linearly related to the number of flowers produced, since floral display will influence pollinator foraging patterns. we may expect more visits to plants with more flowers, but do these large plants receive more or fewer visits per flower than small plants? do all pollinator species respond in the same way? we would also expect foragers to move less between plants when the number of flowers per plant are large, which may reduce cross-pollinati ... | 1998 | 28308029 |
| differences in pollination success between local and foreign flower color phenotypes: a translocation experiment with gentiana lutea (gentianaceae). | the adaptive maintenance of flower color variation is frequently attributed to pollinators partly because they preferentially visit certain flower phenotypes. we tested whether gentiana lutea-which shows a flower color variation (from orange to yellow) in the cantabrian mountains range (north of spain)-is locally adapted to the pollinator community. | 2017 | 28194308 |
| unusual fatty acids in the fat body of the early nesting bumblebee, bombus pratorum. | unusual fatty acids with 24, 26, and 28 carbon atoms were found in triacylglycerols (tags) isolated from fat body tissue of bumblebee bombus pratorum. the most abundant one was (z,z)-9,19-hexacosadienoic acid. its structure was determined by mass spectrometry after derivatization with dimethyl disulfide and by infrared spectroscopy. ecl (equivalent chain length) values of its methyl ester were determined on both db-1 and db-wax capillary columns. (z,z)-9,19-hexacosadienoic acid is quite rare in ... | 2008 | 18365265 |