https://dspace.library.uvic.ca:8443/handle/1828/11837

Abstract:

Habitat loss and climate change are major factors implicated in the decline of bumble bees worldwide. These factors may be particularly acute in regions subject to climatic extremes such as seasonal drought. Combining methods from pollinator research and phylogenetic community ecology, I investigated the impacts of seasonal drought on plant phenology and bumble bee community ecology across gradients of disturbance and soil moisture in a semi-arid ecosystem. Seasonal fluctuations in floral resources coincided with significant phylogenetic clustering in plant communities, with decreasing plant diversity observed under conditions of increasing drought stress. In the late season, modified wet areas supported higher floral resource availability and greater bumble bee abundances as compared to dry woodlands, though wetlands were also an important source of late season floral resources. Despite these local effects, however, the areal extent of natural vs modified matrix habitat accounted for the majority of variation in models explaining bumble bee abundances. Modified matrix habitat was negatively associated, and natural matrix habitat positively associated, with the occurrence of bumble bee workers in June and late-flying queens in July and August. Results provide insight into the temporal niche dynamics of entomophilous flowering plants in this system, and emphasize the importance of conserving natural habitat diversity in efforts to promote resilient plant-pollinator communities. This study also provides evidence for the local extinction of Bombus occidentalis Greene, 1858 and Bombus suckleyi Greene, 1860 from Galiano Island, BC, Canada, as well as the island’s recent colonization by Bombus vosnesenskii Radoszkowski, 1862.

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