Investigating the impact of habitat structure on queen and worker bumblebees in the field

这项研究将揭示大黄蜂行为和生态学的基本方面，以显示栖息地结构如何影响大黄蜂在其群体周期的不同阶段。大黄蜂是野花和农作物的主要传粉者，但它们的数量在全球范围内正在下降。虽然大黄蜂在某些方面已经得到了很好的研究，但它们生态的基本方面仍然未知。在这项提案中，我们计划填补其中的一些空白，以便我们能够采取最有效的措施扭转衰退。我们有四个具体目标。首先，关于筑巢蜂王在春季的扩散情况知之甚少，因此我们将确定筑巢蜂王的精细空间遗传结构和行为，并将其与筑巢和觅食栖息地在农业景观中的分布联系起来。其次，尽管新的遗传方法允许估计工蜂的觅食范围，但我们不知道工蜂和蜂群如何利用与其栖息地的精细结构相关的空间；因此，我们将量化工蜂的空间分布和栖息地结构，以确定这种关系。第三，一些种类的大黄蜂有很长的舌头，野花和花管(花冠)较深的农作物的最有效传粉者也是如此。英国舌头最长的大黄蜂物种Bombus hortorum仍然很常见，但与之密切相关的B.ruderatus很少。我们将直接比较这两个物种在同一景观中的空间遗传结构，以阐明造成这种差异的生物学原因。第四，由于我们的研究将在为大黄蜂提供饲料的有针对性的措施(农业环境方案)已经确立的地点进行，我们将能够利用我们的结果来模拟这些措施对大黄蜂觅食范围和巢密度的影响。为了达到我们的目标，我们将研究五个物种，包括拉皮达里乌斯、帕斯库勒姆、霍托勒姆和鲁德鲁斯，它们被选为代表适当范围的生态和行为差异。我们将在一个独特的田野环境中使用遗传、生态和建模方法的新组合：英国的一个农业景观(2100公顷)，作为正在进行的景观规模试验的一部分，已经建立了针对昆虫传粉者的标准化农业环境选项块。我们的方法将包括对蜂王和工蚁进行系统的非致命性DNA采样，然后进行微卫星基因分型，并结合兄弟关系重建(将个体归入家庭)来确定蜂王和工蚁的空间遗传分布。我们还将使用先进的标记技术(例如射频识别(RFID)、坑标签)来补充我们对蜂王的遗传调查，特别是将蜂王空间的使用与小型哺乳动物的分布联系起来(据信蜂王利用它们的巢来筑巢，作为正在进行的研究的一部分，已经对它们进行了监测)。最后，我们已经使用高分辨率多光谱扫描仪和实地调查对研究情况进行了表征。由此产生的关于栖息地组成和结构的详细信息，与我们关于熊蜂空间使用的数据相结合，将使我们能够准确地模拟栖息地结构对蜜蜂的影响。因此，总体而言，该项目非常符合昆虫传粉者倡议的要求。首先，由于这项研究是在一个我们已经确定了栖息地结构特征并建立了实验性农业环境方案的地点进行的，它将有助于增进我们对农业和土地利用变化对大黄蜂行为和群体动态的影响的理解。其次，它将使用新的工具和数据分析来发现与传粉者从分子到种群水平下降有关的大黄蜂生态的基本方面。

This research will unravel fundamental aspects of bumblebee behaviour and ecology to show how habitat structure affects bumblebees at different stages in their colony cycle. Bumblebees are key pollinators of wildflowers and crops but their populations are declining worldwide. Although bumblebees have been well-studied in some respects, fundamental aspects of their ecology remain unknown. In this proposal we plan to fill some of these gaps so that we can implement the most effective measures to reverse declines. We have four specific objectives. First, little is known about the dispersal of nest-founding queens in spring, so we will determine the fine-scale spatial genetic structure and behaviour of nest-founding queens and relate this to the distribution of nesting and foraging habitats across an agricultural landscape. Second, although new genetic methods have permitted estimates of the foraging ranges of worker bees, we do not know how workers and colonies use space in relation to the fine-scale structure of their habitat; we will therefore quantify both workers' spatial distribution and habitat structure to determine this relationship. Third, some bumblebee species have long tongues and so are the most effective pollinators of wildflowers and crops in which the floral tube (corolla) is deep. The UK's longest-tongued bumblebee species, Bombus hortorum, remains common but the closely related B. ruderatus is scarce. We will compare the spatial genetic structure of these two species directly in the same landscape in order to elucidate the biological reasons for this difference. Fourth, because our study will take place at a site where targeted measures to provide forage for bumblebees (agri-environment schemes) have already been established, we will be able to use our results to model the impacts of these measures on bumblebee foraging range and nest density. To meet our objectives, we will study the five species B. lapidarius, B. pascuorum, B. terrestris B. hortorum and B. ruderatus, chosen to represent an appropriate range of ecological and behavioural differences. We will use a novel combination of genetic, ecological and modelling methods in a unique field setting: an agricultural landscape (2100ha) in England in which blocks of standardised agri-environment options targeted at insect pollinators have been established as part of an ongoing landscape-scale experiment. Our methods will consist of systematic nonlethal sampling of queens and workers for DNA, followed by microsatellite genotyping coupled with sibship reconstruction (grouping of individuals into families) to determine the spatial genetic distribution of queens and workers. We will also use advanced marking techniques (e.g. radio-frequency identification (RFID), pit-tags) to supplement our genetic investigations of queens and specifically to relate queen space use to the distribution of small mammals (whose nests queens are believed to exploit for nesting and which are already being monitored as part of ongoing studies). Finally, we have already characterized the study landscape using both high-resolution multi-spectral scanners and field surveys. The resulting detailed information on habitat composition and structure, when integrated with our data on bumblebee space use, will allow us accurately to model the impact of habitat structure on the bees. Overall, therefore, this project matches the requirements of the Insect Pollinators Initiative very well. First, because the study is taking place at a site where we have already characterized habitat structure and in which an experimental agri-environment scheme is established, it will serve to advance our understanding of the effects of agriculture and land-use change on bumblebee behaviour and colony dynamics. Second, it will use new tools and data analysis to discover fundamental aspects of bumblebee ecology relevant to pollinator declines from molecular to population levels.