Article (Scientific journals)
Pollen nutrients better explain bumblebee colony development than pollen diversity
Moerman, Romain; Vanderplanck, Maryse; Fournier, Denis et al.
2017In Insect Conservation and Diversity
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Keywords :
Amino acids; bumblebee; colony; diet; nutrient; sterol
Abstract :
[en] 1. Bumblebees are valuable pollinators of numerous wild and cultivated plants. They can forage on variable pollen resources. As some pollen species lack particular nutrients or have global low nutritional quality, it has been suggested that bumblebees mix their pollen incomes to ensure a global balanced diet. The hypothesis that a mixed pollen diet better supports bumblebee colony development than a single pollen diet has been poorly explored. 2. We compared the impact of mono-, di- and trifloral diets on microcolony development of Bombus terrestris using three pollen resources with different nutrient contents (Cytisus scoparius, Erica sp. and Sorbus aucuparia) as well as their mixes. Nine parameters (e.g. pollen efficacy: total weight of larvae/total weight of pollen collection) were used to compare the microcolony performances. Moreover, we measured the influence of the pollen diversity and nutritional composition on relevant parameters. 3. We showed that microcolonies can potentially better develop on mixed pollen diets, but single pollen diet can also be as good as mixed pollen diet. Moreover, the sterol concentration appeared as a key factor to establish the impact of a pollen diet on the bumblebee colony development. 4. This study reveals that diverse pollen diet does not necessary equate with good colony development and supports the importance of selecting floral resources by considering their nutrient contents for bee conservation management.
Disciplines :
Environmental sciences & ecology
Entomology & pest control
Biochemistry, biophysics & molecular biology
Author, co-author :
Moerman, Romain;  Evolutionary Biology and Ecology, Université Libre de Bruxelles ; Research Institute for Biosciences, Laboratory of Zoology, University of Mons
Vanderplanck, Maryse ;  Université de Mons - UMONS > Research Institute for Biosciences > Laboratory of Zoology
Fournier, Denis;  Evolutionary Biology and Ecology, Université Libre de Bruxelles
Jacquemart, Anne-Laure;  Earth and Life Institute, Catholic University of Louvain
Michez, Denis;  Research Institute for Biosciences, Laboratory of Zoology, University of Mons
Language :
English
Title :
Pollen nutrients better explain bumblebee colony development than pollen diversity
Publication date :
07 January 2017
Journal title :
Insect Conservation and Diversity
ISSN :
1752-458X
eISSN :
1752-4598
Publisher :
Wiley
Peer reviewed :
Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi
Available on ORBi :
since 11 January 2017

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