Winter activity unrelated to introgression in British bumblebee Bombus terrestris audax
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Apidologie * The Author(s), 2020 DOI: 10.1007/s13592-020-00822-w
Winter activity unrelated to introgression in British bumblebee Bombus terrestris audax Alex F. HART1 , Kevin MAEBE1 , Gordon BROWN2 , Guy SMAGGHE1 , Thomas INGS2 1
Department of Plants and Crops, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure links 653, B-9000, Ghent, Belgium 2 School of Life Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK Received 31 January 2020 – Revised 16 September 2020 – Accepted 28 October 2020
Abstract – Bombus terrestris is a bumblebee with a wide geographic range, with subspecies showing a variety of local adaptations. Global export of commercially-reared B. terrestris started in the 1980s; the bees are a mixture of subspecies bred for ease of rearing, bivoltinism and large nests. This paper investigated whether the increase in bivoltinism in UK resident B. terrestris audax populations was related to introgression with imported foreign subspecies. Workers were collected from wild populations in London and Bristol, as well as two commercial suppliers. Fourteen microsatellite loci were used to study population structure, hybridisation and introgression. No introgression with commercial B. t. dalmatinus was detected in wild populations. Hence, the increase in winter activity appears unrelated to introgression. Bombus terrestris / bumblebees / introgression / microsatellites / population genetics
1. INTRODUCTION Bombus terrestris (Linnaeus 1758) is a large, highly abundant bumblebee with a wide distribution across Europe (Figure 1), where it can be found in a range of habitats, excluding arctic, alpine and desert regions (Rasmont et al. 2008). Nine distinct subspecies have been described, with physiological and behavioural adaptations appropriate to their local environment, such as differences in colour pattern, pheromones and aggression (Rasmont et al. 2008; Coppée 2010). Despite such variation, the vast majority of B. terrestris populations are univoltine, with queens emerging from diapause in the spring,
Corresponding author: A. Hart, [email protected] Manuscript editor: Mathieu Lihoreau
producing one colony over the summer, and with new queens initiating diapause at the end of summer (Løken 1973; Rasmont et al. 2008). A few exceptions do exist; B. terrestris exhibits facultative bivoltinism in areas where climatic conditions can support colonies over winter, such as the Mediterranean Basin (Beekman et al. 1999; Rasmont et al. 2008). In warmer Mediterranean regions, B. terrestris queens aestivate in response to the summer heat (Gurel et al. 2008). Chosen for their ability to pollinate a wide range of plants and to thrive in a variety of environmental conditions, B. terrestris has been bred commercially since the 1980s for agricultural pollination services (Velthuis and Van Doorn 2006; Rasmont et al. 2008). Through a behaviour known as buzz pollination, bumblebees are capable of pollinating several crops (e.g. aubergine, tomato and blueberry) which cannot be effectively pollinated by honeybees, and
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