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The Decline and Conservation Status of North American Bumble Bees

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The Decline and Conservation Status of North American Bumble Bees Utah State University DigitalCommons@USU All Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies 8-2011 The Decline and Conservation Status of North American Bumble Bees Jonathan B. Koch Utah State University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd Part of the Biology Commons Recommended Citation Koch, Jonathan B., "The Decline and Conservation Status of North American Bumble Bees" (2011). All Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 1015. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/1015 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies at DigitalCommons@USU. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@USU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE DECLINE AND CONSERVATION STATUS OF NORTH AMERICAN BUMBLE BEES by Jonathan Berenguer Koch A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE in Biology Approved: ________________________ ________________________ Dr. James P. Pitts Dr. James P. Strange Major Professor Committee Member ________________________ ________________________ Dr. David N. Koons Dr. Byron R. Burnham Committee Member Dean of Graduate Studies UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY Logan, Utah 2011 ii Copyright © Jonathan Berenguer Koch 2011 All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT The decline and conservation status of North American bumble bees by Jonathan Berenguer Koch, Master of Science Utah State University, 2011 Major Professor: Dr. James P. Pitts Department: Biology Several reports of North American bumble bee (Bombus Latreille) decline have been documented across the continent, but no study has fully assessed the geographic scope of decline. In this study I discuss the importance of Natural History Collections (NHC) in estimating historic bumble bee distributions and abundances, as well as in informing current surveys. To estimate changes in distribution and relative abundance I compare historic data assembled from a >73,000 specimen database with a contemporary 3-year survey of North American bumble bees across 382 locations in the contiguous U.S.A. Based on my results, four historically abundant bumble bees, B. affinis, B. occidentalis, B. pensylvanicus and B. terricola, have declined by 72 - 96% relative abundance across their native distribution, while B. bifarius, B. bimaculatus, B. impatiens, and B. vosnesenskii appear to be relatively stable. Finally, I provide some notes on the distribution, abundance, and frequency of Nosema bombi infections in Alaskan B. occidentalis. (133 pages) iv FRONTISPIECE v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would first like to thank Jamie Strange and Terry Griswold for taking on a student whose first encounter with the somewhat daunting bumble bees was a little over two years ago. I am thankful for the opportunity to conduct research in some of the most amazing places in North America. I would also like to thank the primary investigators of the USDA CSREES-NRI grant #2007-02274 which provided the funding opportunity for me to study at Utah State University: Sydney Cameron (University of Illinois, Urbana- Champaign), Lee Solter (Illinois Natural History Survey), Jamie Strange (USDA-ARS PIRU), and Terry Griswold (USDA-ARS PIRU). I am especially grateful to Joyce Knoblett, Harold Ikerd, Leah Lewis, and Daniel Young at the Bee Lab for providing the crucial technical support and database assistance. Without your patience and charisma, this project would have never come to fruition. I would like to extend a special thank you to the many museum curators and managers who provided lab space on my museum visits, electronic databases and time to carefully ship hundreds, sometimes thousands of specimens for me to database: Jason Weintraub (Academy of Natural Sciences), John Ascher (American Museum of Natural History), Sheperd Myer (Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum), Kimberly Huntzinger and Sean Clark (Brigham Young University), Norm Penny and Vince Lee (California Academy of Sciences), William H. Clark (The College of Idaho), Christopher Marshall (Oregon State University), Pamela Horsley (San Diego Natural History Museum), Dr. Marshal Hedin (San Diego State University), Sèan Brady and David Furth (Smithsonian Institution), Paul Johnson (South Dakota State University), Cheryl Barr and Robert Zuparko (University of California-Berkeley), Robbin Thorp and Steve Heydon vi (University of California- Davis), Frank Merickel (University of Idaho), Steven Krauth (University of Wisconsin), Richard Zack (Washington State University), and Lawrence Gall (Yale University). I thank James Pitts and David Koons for providing thoughtful comments, insight, and support throughout my thesis; and Terry Griswold for providing stimulating conversation about bee biology and natural history. I especially thank Robbin Thorp for sharing his wealth of bumble bee knowledge, life experiences, and hospitality as I poured over the thousands of specimens housed at the Bohart museum at the University of California in Davis, CA. Without his > 40 years of expertise, the bumble bee community would not be what it is today. Finally, I will be forever indebted to my hānai family of Logan, Utah for their friendship, support, and the push to succeed. My sincerest aloha. Jonathan B. Koch vii CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... iii FRONTISPIECE ................................................................................................................ iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. ix LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................x CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................1 Thesis Description .......................................................................................1 Background ..................................................................................................1 Bumble Bee Decline in North America .......................................................4 Thesis Outline ..............................................................................................5 Literature Cited ............................................................................................7 II. CONSTRUCTING A RELATIONAL DATABASE AND SPECIES DISTRIBUTION MODELS OF NORTH AMERICAN BUMBLE BEES (BOMBUS LATREILLE) TO INFORM CONSERVATION DECISIONS AND MONITORING EFFORTS ....................................................................11 Abstract ......................................................................................................11 Introduction ................................................................................................12 Bombus sensu stricto: Description and Biology ............................14 Bombus affinis, the Rusty Patch Bumble Bee ................................15 Bombus terricola, the Yellow Banded Bumble Bee ......................16 Bombus franklini, Franklin’s Bumble Bee.....................................16 Bombus occidentalis, the Western Bumble Bee ............................17 Materials and Methods ...............................................................................18 Results ........................................................................................................24 Discussion ..................................................................................................30 Conclusion .................................................................................................36 Literature Cited ..........................................................................................37 III. A STATUS SNAPSHOT OF BUMBLE BEE (BOMBUS) COMMUNITIES IN THE ALASKA INTERIOR WITH A SPECIAL FOCUS ON NOSEMA BOMBI PREVELANCE IN B. OCCIDENTALIS AND B. MODERATUS .....42 viii Abstract ......................................................................................................42 Introduction ................................................................................................42 Methods......................................................................................................45 Pathogen Load Analysis ................................................................45 Species Distribution Models ..........................................................46 Results ........................................................................................................47 Pathogen Load Analysis ................................................................47 Species Distribution Models ..........................................................49 Discussion ..................................................................................................51 Literature Cited ..........................................................................................55 IV. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ..............................................................58 APPENDICES ...................................................................................................................61 Appendix A ................................................................................................62 Appendix B ................................................................................................64
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