Citizen science is an increasingly popular way of engaging volunteers in the collection of scientific data. Despite this, data quality remains a concern and there is little published evidence about ...the accuracy of records generated by citizen scientists. Here we compare data generated by two British citizen science projects, Blooms for Bees and BeeWatch, to determine the ability of volunteer recorders to identify bumblebee (Bombus) species. We assessed recorders' identification ability in two ways-as recorder accuracy (the proportion of expert-verified records correctly identified by recorders) and recorder success (the proportion of recorder-submitted identifications confirmed correct by verifiers). Recorder identification ability was low (50% accuracy; 60% success), despite access to project specific bumblebee identification materials. Identification ability varied significantly depending on bumblebee species, with recorders most able to correctly identify species with distinct appearances. Blooms for Bees recorders (largely recruited from the gardening community) were markedly less able to identify bumblebees than BeeWatch recorders (largely individuals with a more specific interest in bumblebees). Within both projects, recorders demonstrated an improvement in identification ability over time. Here we demonstrate and quantify the essential role of expert verification within citizen science projects, and highlight where resources could be strengthened to improve recorder ability.
Bumble Bees of North America Williams, Paul H; Thorp, Robbin W; Richardson, Leif L ...
03/2014, Letnik:
89
eBook
More than ever before, there is widespread interest in studying bumble bees and the critical role they play in our ecosystems.Bumble Bees of North Americais the first comprehensive guide to North ...American bumble bees to be published in more than a century. Richly illustrated with color photographs, diagrams, range maps, and graphs of seasonal activity patterns, this guide allows amateur and professional naturalists to identify all 46 bumble bee species found north of Mexico and to understand their ecology and changing geographic distributions.
The book draws on the latest molecular research, shows the enormous color variation within species, and guides readers through the many confusing convergences between species. It draws on a large repository of data from museum collections and presents state-of-the-art results on evolutionary relationships, distributions, and ecological roles. Illustrated keys allow identification of color morphs and social castes.
A landmark publication,Bumble Bees of North Americasets the standard for guides and the study of these important insects.
The best guide yet to the 46 recognized bumble bee species in North America north of MexicoUp-to-date taxonomy includes previously unpublished resultsDetailed distribution mapsExtensive keys identify the many color patterns of species
Pollen samples from a bumble bee Li, Xun; Lehnebach, Carlos; Kasper, Julia ...
PloS one,
12/2022, Letnik:
17, Številka:
12
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Historic pollination networks are important to understand interactions between different plant and pollinator species, as well as to differentiate between causes and consequences of present insect ...population decline. Natural history collections in museums store biological proxy data, which is used to reconstruct historic pollination networks of bumble bees. Four bumble bee species (Bombus terrestris, B. ruderatus, B. hortorum and B. subterraneus) were introduced to Aotearoa New Zealand in 1885 specifically for pollination purposes. Pollen samples were collected from museum specimens of three of the four NZ species of bumble bee (excluding B. subterraneus) collected between 1954 and 1972 from 56 locations across the South Island, New Zealand. The most common plants identified on all three bumble bee species were Calluna vulgaris (heather), Ulex (gorse), Cytisus (broom), and Trifolium repens (white clover). However, all three bumble bee species also carried pollen from several native plants (e.g. Arthropodium, Weinmannia, Plagianthus, Quintinia, Veronica, Melicytus) and potentially had been involved in the pollination of these species. This study adds new plant species known to be foraged upon by bumble bees in Aotearoa New Zealand. Further studies on pollination networks in New Zealand will help us understand any changes in host plant preferences over time and after the time period covered by this study.
Bumble bees represent one of the most important groups of pollinators. In addition to their ecological and economic relevance, they are also a highly charismatic group which can help to increase the ...interest of people in realizing, enjoying and conserving natural systems. However, like most animals, bumble bees are sensitive to climate. In this atlas, maps depicting potential risks of climate change for bumble bees are shown together with informative summary statistics, ecological background information and a picture of each European species. Thanks to the EU FP7 project STEP, the authors gathered over one million bumblebee records from all over Europe. Based on these data, they modelled the current climatic niche for almost all European species (56 species) and projected future climatically suitable conditions using three climate change scenarios for the years 2050 and 2100. While under a moderate change scenario only 3 species are projected to be at the verge of extinction by 2100, 14 species are at high risk under an intermediate change scenario. Under a most severe change scenario as many as 25 species are projected to lose almost all of their climatically suitable area, while a total of 53 species (77% of the 69 European species) would lose the main part of their suitable area. Climatic risks for bumblebees can be extremely high, depending on the future development of human society, and the corresponding effects on the climate. Strong mitigation strategies are needed to preserve this important species group and to ensure the sustainable provision of pollination services, to which they considerably contribute.
More than ever before, there is widespread interest in studying bumble bees and the critical role they play in our ecosystems. Bumble Bees of North America is the first comprehensive guide to North ...American bumble bees to be published in more than a century. Richly illustrated with color photographs, diagrams, range maps, and graphs of seasonal activity patterns, this guide allows amateur and professional naturalists to identify all 46 bumble bee species found north of Mexico and to understand their ecology and changing geographic distributions. The book draws on the latest molecular research, shows the enormous color variation within species, and guides readers through the many confusing convergences between species. It draws on a large repository of data from museum collections and presents state-of-the-art results on evolutionary relationships, distributions, and ecological roles. Illustrated keys allow identification of color morphs and social castes.A landmark publication, Bumble Bees of North America sets the standard for guides and the study of these important insects.The best guide yet to the 46 recognized bumble bee species in North America north of MexicoUp-to-date taxonomy includes previously unpublished results Detailed distribution maps Extensive keys identify the many color patterns of species
Morphological Variation in Bumblebees Hjort, Cecilia Kardum; Smith, Henrik G; Allen, Andrew P ...
Journal of insect science (Tucson, Ariz.),
01/2023, Letnik:
23, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Introduced social insects can be highly invasive outside of their native range. Around the world, the introduction and establishment of the eusocial bumblebee Bombus terrestris (L. 1758) ...(Hymenoptera: Apidae) has negatively impacted native pollinators and ecosystems. Understanding how morphological variation is linked to environmental variation across invasive ranges can indicate how rapidly species may be diverging or adapting across novel ranges and may assist with predicting future establishment and spread. Here we investigate whether B. terrestris shows morphological variation related to environmental variation across the island of Tasmania (Australia) where it was introduced three decades ago. We collected 169 workers from 16 sites across Tasmania and related relative abundance and morphology to landscape-wide climate, land use, and vegetation structure. We found weak morphological divergence related to environmental conditions across Tasmania. Body size of B. terrestris was positively associated with the percentage of urban land cover, a relationship largely driven by a single site, possibly reflecting high resource availability in urban areas. Proboscis length showed a significant negative relationship with the percentage of pasture. Wing loading and local abundance were not related to the environmental conditions within sites. Our results reflect the highly adaptable nature of B. terrestris and its ability to thrive in different environments, which may have facilitated the bumblebee's successful invasion across Tasmania.
Examines preserved pollen on bumble bee specimens (Bombus terrestris, B. ruderatus, and B. hortorum) from the Gurr Collection held at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (MONZ), in order to ...understand historical bumble bee visitation of introduced and native plants in the South Island. Source: National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, licensed by the Department of Internal Affairs for re-use under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 New Zealand Licence.
Bumblebees are familiar and charismatic insects, occurring throughout much of the world. They are increasingly being used as a model organism for studying a wide range of ecological and behavioural ...concepts, such as social organization, optimal foraging theories, host-parasite interactions, and pollination. Recently they have become a focus for conservationists due to mounting evidence of range coBIOL15ANIB and catastrophic extinctions with some species disappearing from entire continents (e.g. in North America). Only by improving our understanding of their ecology can we devise sensible plans to conserve them. The role of bumblebees as invasive species (e.g. Bombus terrestris in Japan) has also become topical with the growing trade in commercial bumblebee nests for tomato pollination leading to establishment of non-native bumblebees in a number of countries. Since the publication of the first edition of the book, there have been hundreds of research papers published on bumblebees. There is clearly a continuing need for an affordable, well-illustrated, and appealing text that makes accessible all of the major advances in understanding of the behaviour and ecology of bumblebees that have been made in the last 30 years.
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