title: The Potential Influence of Bumble Bee Visitation on Foraging Behaviors and Assemblages of Honey Bees on Squash Flowers in Highland Agricultural Ecosystems.
abstract: Bee species interactions can benefit plant pollination through synergistic effects and complementary effects, or can be of detriment to plant pollination through competition effects by reducing visitation by effective pollinators. Since specific bee interactions influence the foraging performance of bees on flowers, they also act as drivers to regulate the assemblage of flower visitors. We selected squash (Cucurbita pepo L.) and its pollinators as a model system to study the foraging response of honey bees to the occurrence of bumble bees at two types of sites surrounded by a high amount of natural habitats (≥ 58% of land cover) and a low amount of natural habitats (≤ 12% of land cover) in a highland agricultural ecosystem in China. At the individual level, we measured the elapsed time from the departure of prior pollinator(s) to the arrival of another pollinator, the selection of honey bees for flowers occupied by bumble bees, and the length of time used by honey bees to explore floral resources at the two types of sites. At the community level, we explored the effect of bumble bee visitation on the distribution patterns of honey bees on squash flowers. Conclusively, bumble bee visitation caused an increase in elapsed time before flowers were visited again by a honey bee, a behavioral avoidance by a newly-arriving honey bee to select flowers occupied by bumble bees, and a shortened length of time the honey bee takes to examine and collect floral resources. The number of overall bumble bees on squash flowers was the most important factor explaining the difference in the distribution patterns of honey bees at the community level. Furthermore, decline in the number of overall bumble bees on the squash flowers resulted in an increase in the number of overall honey bees. Therefore, our study suggests that bee interactions provide an opportunity to enhance the resilience of ecosystem pollination services against the decline in pollinator diversity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Entomology, Research Institute of Insect Resources, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Kunming, Yunnan, China.
authors.forename: Zhenghua
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics, Yunnan University, Kunming, Yunnan, China.
authors.forename: Dongdong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Economic Plants and Biotechnology, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Science, Kunming, Yunnan, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Teichroew
authors.affiliation: Institute of Apicultural Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Jiandong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: An
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees; D002681:China; D028464:Cucurbita; D017753:Ecosystem; D035264:Flowers; D054817:Pollination