Distribution Patterns of the Cold Adapted Bumblebee Bombus Alpinus in the Alps and Hints of an Uphill Shift (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Apidae)
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Distribution patterns of the cold adapted bumblebee Bombus alpinus in the Alps and hints of an uphill shift (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Apidae) Paolo Biella, Giuseppe Bogliani, Maurizio Cornalba, Aulo Manino, Johann Neumayer, Marco Porporato, Pierre Rasmont & Pietro Milanesi Journal of Insect Conservation An international journal devoted to the conservation of insects and related invertebrates ISSN 1366-638X Volume 21 Number 2 J Insect Conserv (2017) 21:357-366 DOI 10.1007/s10841-017-9983-1 1 23 Your article is protected by copyright and all rights are held exclusively by Springer International Publishing Switzerland. This e- offprint is for personal use only and shall not be self-archived in electronic repositories. If you wish to self-archive your article, please use the accepted manuscript version for posting on your own website. 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The link must be accompanied by the following text: "The final publication is available at link.springer.com”. 1 23 Author's personal copy J Insect Conserv (2017) 21:357–366 DOI 10.1007/s10841-017-9983-1 ORIGINAL PAPER Distribution patterns of the cold adapted bumblebee Bombus alpinus in the Alps and hints of an uphill shift (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Apidae) Paolo Biella1,2 · Giuseppe Bogliani3 · Maurizio Cornalba4 · Aulo Manino5 · Johann Neumayer6 · Marco Porporato5 · Pierre Rasmont7 · Pietro Milanesi3,8 Received: 23 August 2016 / Accepted: 25 April 2017 / Published online: 27 April 2017 © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2017 Abstract Climate change is threatening species and and resources. We developed species distribution models habitats. Altitudinal shifts uphill and negative population including both climatic and habitat variables to obtain the trends are commonly observed in altitude-related taxa. The surface suitable for this subspecies and quantified its pro- bumblebee Bombus alpinus (Linnaeus, 1758) has a dis- tected portion. Our analyses indicate that this bumblebee joint distribution restricted to Fennoscandia and the Alps, is restricted to the upper altitudes and has a narrow niche and is considered threatened. We studied the ecology and mainly related to the presence of glaciers, the cool tempera- distribution of B. alpinus in the Alps, where the endemic ture, a low temperature variation, and a specific range of subspecies Bombus alpinus helleri Dalla Torre 1882 is precipitation. A strong altitudinal shift is also taking place found, as a case-model because of its rarity, habitat, and probably due to climate change. After years of no changes mutual dependence with the ecosystem for pollination in altitudinal distribution, its lowest altitudinal limit has moved up 479 m since the year 1984, while its upper altitu- dinal limit has remained unchanged. Over half of the suit- Electronic supplementary material The online version of this able area in the Alps is included within protected areas, article (doi:10.1007/s10841-017-9983-1) contains supplementary but conservation has not been planned yet. However, rare material, which is available to authorized users. species with narrow niche, such as B. alpinus, are highly * Paolo Biella threatened by climate change. Potential short-term miti- [email protected] gation actions are discussed, including exchange of males 1 between locations and integral protection of prairies in the Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University vicinity of glaciers. of South Bohemia, Branišovská 31, 37005 České Budějovice, Czech Republic Climate change · Specialist · Rare species · 2 Biology Centre of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Keywords Republic, v.v.i., Institute of Entomology, Branišovská 31, Species distribution modelling · Altitudinal shift · 37005 České Budějovice, Czech Republic Conservation 3 Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Pavia, via Adolfo Ferrata 9, 27100 Pavia, Italy 4 Department of Mathematics, University of Pavia, via Ferrata Introduction 5, 27100 Pavia, Italy 5 Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences Global change is currently threatening many species (DISAFA), University of Torino, Largo Paolo Braccini 2, (Thomas et al. 2004). Together with land use change (Mar- 10095 Grugliasco, TO, Italy tins et al. 2014; Jha 2015), agricultural practices (Oller- 6 Obergrubstraße 18, 5161 Elixhausen, Austria ton et al. 2014; Rundlöf et al. 2015), and new pathogens 7 Laboratory of Zoology, Research Institute of Biosciences, (Smith et al. 2006; Cameron et al. 2011), climate change University of Mons, Place du Parc 20, 7000 Mons, Belgium affects the survival of endangered species and could even 8 Swiss Ornithological Institute, Seerose 1, 6204 Sempach, cause extinctions (e.g. Parmesan and Yohe 2003; Thomas Switzerland et al. 2004). As pointed out by the International Panel Vol.:(0123456789)1 3 Author's personal copy 358 J Insect Conserv (2017) 21:357–366 on Climate Change (IPCC, Intergovernmental Panel on (Cameron et al. 2011; Casey et al. 2015) with range losses Climate Change 2014), atmospheric temperatures have and altitudinal shifts as a response to the recent climate increased since 1750, apparently due to rising concentra- warming (Kerr et al. 2015); (iii) mutual dependence links tions of methane (CH4, 150%), nitrous oxide (N2O, 20%), this taxon and its ecosystem, since bumblebees are key and carbon dioxide (CO2, 40%) during the same period pollinators (Park et al. 2015) and their colonies need high (IPCC, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2014). quality pollen for their fitness (Francis et al. 2016); (iv) B. In mountainous areas, temperatures have warmed by alpinus helleri is considered extinct in the Carpathians, a 0.13 °C/decade since the 1950s (Pepin and Seidel 2005). Southern European mountain chain, since old records have Drought and the alteration of the chemical properties of not been recently confirmed (Rasmont et al.2015b ), and it soils are consequences of climate change that would largely is therefore a priority to shed light on this taxa in another impact the entire alpine ecosystem (Wu et al. 2013). Cli- European mountain range, such as the Alps, while it is still mate change also heavily impacts glaciers, which have lost present. about 50% and 30–40% of their historical volume and sur- Thus, our aims are: (i) to estimate the suitable surface for face in the European Alps, respectively, since the 1950s the taxon with both habitat and bio-climatic variables; (ii) (Haeberli and Beniston 1998); their melting rates in the to calculate what proportion of suitable areas are included early twenty-first century are unprecedented (Zemp et al. in protected areas, which would provide a direct estimation 2015). of the surface area that could be a target for direct manage- Warming is particularly hostile to high-altitude species ment actions; (iii) to identify which environmental features (Flousek et al. 2015), although habitat heterogeneity and are essential for the presence of the taxon and (iv) to detect microclimatic conditions might play a role against climate and quantify any altitudinal shifts in its altitudinal range. warming (Ashton et al. 2009; Anthelme et al. 2014). Spe- cies restricted to the higher altitudes show more negative trends than species of lower altitudes (Flousek et al. 2015). Therefore, range shifting could be a major threat to high- Materials and methods altitude species due to the loss of suitable refuges down- hill (Monasterio et al. 2009) and to competition by lower The study area altitude species which, favoured by warming, colonize new areas upwards (Tinner and Kaltenrieder 2005; Cannone and Our study area (4°53′–16°28′E, 43°26′–48°22′N; Fig. S1) Pignatti 2014). High extinction rates might impact special- encompasses the entire Alps range as defined by the Alps ists from particular niches, for instance in the alpine envi- Convention (http://www.alpconv.org). It includes a total ronment where suitable habitats are unlikely to become surface of ≈191,146 km2 overlapping the mountainous available upwards (Sekercioglu et al. 2008). areas of seven countries (Austria, France, Germany, Italy, The majority of the rare species are related to cold cli- Liechtenstein, Slovenia, and Switzerland). The climate of matic niches, and areas with these conditions are expected the study area varies from continental to alpine, and the to shrink under climate change (Ohlemüller et al. 2008; topography is mountainous (up to 4810 m a.s.l.). Viterbi et al. 2013). Therefore, rare species would face a higher extinction risk under climate change as a result of a decrease in habitat availability (Thuiller et al. 2005). Thus, The model taxon: Bombus alpinus helleri their conservation must be a priority. Knowing where spe- cies occur is a key aspect for their conservation, but in the Bombus (Alpinobombus) alpinus (Linnaeus, 1758) is the case of rare species, a lack of knowledge about their dis- European arctic-alpine disjointed endemism, since the sub- tribution is often the rule due to their low detectability. species B. alpinus alpinus occurs in the high Fennoscan- By means of species distribution modelling (SDMs), this dia while B. alpinus helleri occurs in the Alps (Rasmont lack might be obviated by relating the known distribution et al. 2015a). In this latter area,