Hiking up to the next plot…
Bumblebees are ecologically and economically important pollinators in North America. Many species have experienced decline over the past few decades, making them a popular subject of conservation efforts. Yet , there is still a large knowledge gap surrounding their wild nesting ecology, primarily due to the difficulty of locating nests in the field. This study aimed to fill that gap by documenting nest activity of discovered bumblebee nests throughout the colony’s duration. Each nest was observed for approximately six hours each week, distributed from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Nest traffic, bees entering or exiting the nest, was documented. Nest traffic over the course of the day was analyzed. We found that nest activity was highly variable across the four nests. Activity of three out of the four nests showed no obvious within-day activity structure. One nest exhibited a notable decrease in activity in the middle of the day, and an increase in the afternoon/evening. Our results are in contrast to other literature on bumblebee activity, where bees were observed to not only have a clear diurnal pattern, but a clear peak in activity towards the middle of the day - however, most studies use lab-reared colonies as opposed to wild nests. More research should be conducted on wild bumblebee nesting ecology before any conclusions are reached, but factors like colony size (where smaller colonies, particularly those in subalpine environments, have more variable activity), UV index, or nest architecture could all contribute to a wild colony’s activity over the day.
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