Triangulating from the cairns…
It is helpful to know how pollinators move around the landscape, because it can allow us to learn things about their natural history, foraging behavior, and navigation strategies. For example, it can help us address questions such as: Where do bees nest? How far do they travel for food, and how does that depend on the amount, quality, and isolation of food resources? Do movement patterns differ between open meadows and urban landscapes? While movement information can help answer these types of questions, it has been hard to collect for insects. They are too small to carry GPS trackers like those used on larger animals, such as deer, so we have relied on visual observations and tracking devices with very small ranges. However, there is a new radio tag device that is small and light enough to put on bumble bees! In this exploratory study, I plan to use this device to track the movement patterns of bumble bee workers in the meadows near RMBL. I hope to combine the information about these bee's movement patterns with data from other researchers at RMBL to learn about their natural history and foraging behavior, and to compare it with similar data I collect at urban sites to learn about how bees might be navigating these landscapes differently.
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