title: Bumblebee family lineage survival is enhanced in high-quality landscapes.
abstract: Insect pollinators such as bumblebees (Bombus spp.) are in global decline. A major cause of this decline is habitat loss due to agricultural intensification. A range of global and national initiatives aimed at restoring pollinator habitats and populations have been developed. However, the success of these initiatives depends critically upon understanding how landscape change affects key population-level parameters, such as survival between lifecycle stages, in target species. This knowledge is lacking for bumblebees, because of the difficulty of systematically finding and monitoring colonies in the wild. We used a combination of habitat manipulation, land-use and habitat surveys, molecular genetics and demographic and spatial modelling to analyse between-year survival of family lineages in field populations of three bumblebee species. Here we show that the survival of family lineages from the summer worker to the spring queen stage in the following year increases significantly with the proportion of high-value foraging habitat, including spring floral resources, within 250-1,000 m of the natal colony. This provides evidence for a positive impact of habitat quality on survival and persistence between successive colony cycle stages in bumblebee populations. These findings also support the idea that conservation interventions that increase floral resources at a landscape scale and throughout the season have positive effects on wild pollinators in agricultural landscapes.
authors.affiliation: NERC Centre for Ecology &Hydrology, Benson Lane, Crowmarsh Gifford, Wallingford OX10 8BB, UK.
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Carvell
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK.
authors.forename: Andrew F G
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Bourke
authors.affiliation: Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regent's Park, London NW1 4RY, UK.|School of Biological Sciences, Bristol Life Sciences Building, University of Bristol, 24 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TQ, UK.
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dreier
authors.affiliation: NERC Centre for Ecology &Hydrology, Benson Lane, Crowmarsh Gifford, Wallingford OX10 8BB, UK.
authors.forename: Stephen N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Freeman
authors.affiliation: NERC Centre for Ecology &Hydrology, Benson Lane, Crowmarsh Gifford, Wallingford OX10 8BB, UK.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hulmes
authors.affiliation: Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regent's Park, London NW1 4RY, UK.
authors.forename: William C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Jordan
authors.affiliation: NERC Centre for Ecology &Hydrology, Benson Lane, Crowmarsh Gifford, Wallingford OX10 8BB, UK.
authors.forename: John W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Redhead
authors.affiliation: Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regent's Park, London NW1 4RY, UK.|School of Biological Sciences, Bristol Life Sciences Building, University of Bristol, 24 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TQ, UK.|Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
authors.forename: Seirian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sumner
authors.affiliation: Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regent's Park, London NW1 4RY, UK.
authors.forename: Jinliang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: NERC Centre for Ecology &Hydrology, Benson Lane, Crowmarsh Gifford, Wallingford OX10 8BB, UK.
authors.forename: Matthew S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Heard
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000145:classification / Q000502:physiology*; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods*; D017753:Ecosystem; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006605:Hibernation; D008297:Male; D054817:Pollination; D012621:Seasons; D016019:Survival Analysis