Repositorio
Institucional

Fonturbel, Francisco E.

Sepulveda, Isidora B.

Muschett, Giselle

Carvallo, Gaston O.

Vieli, Lorena

Murua, Maureen M.

Do exotic plants and flower colour facilitate bumblebee invasion? Insights from citizen science data*

ELSEVIER GMBH

FLORA

en

Invasive species are one of the most important drivers of biodiversity loss worldwide. As exotic species invade new ecosystems, they establish ecological interactions with the existing species, which may facilitate their spread. Flower colour is an important trait that influences pollination and pollinator preferences. To determine the role of these variables on the bumblebee preferences, we compared the floral associations of two exotic bumblebee species: Bombus terrestris and B. ruderatus (introduced two decades ago for crop pollination) and the native B. dahlbomii with native and exotic plants in Chile. We analysed 3,019 citizen science records in order to understand bumblebee associations with native and exotic plant species regarding flower colour. We found that the exotic bumblebees were mainly recorded visiting flowers of exotic plants (86% for B. terrestris and 93% for B. ruderatus), while the native B. dahlbomii visited exotic and native plant species in a similar proportion. Also, the exotic bumblebees visited purple and pink flowers more often, while the native bumblebee species frequently visited white, pink, and purple flowers. Although the three species share trichromatic vision, they seem to have different flower colour preferences. The association of B. terrestris and B. ruderatus with exotic non-crop species (i. e., exotic ornamental plants) may be acting as steppingstones from croplands to other habitats, facilitating the bee invasion process. Despite its inherent limitations, citizen science data provide large amounts of valuable information that is difficult to be obtained otherwise, which can be used to improve our understanding of invasion processes, as is the case of exotic Bombus species in southern South America.

2023

artículo original

es Embargo

10.1016/j.flora.2022.152200

PDF

Bombus dahlbomii

Bombus ruderatus

Bombus terrestris

Chile

Pollination

Pollinators

Ciencias Vegetales

Ciencias Ambientales y Ecología

Botánica

Biología - Zoología, Ornitología, Entomología y Comportamiento Biológico

Bombus dahlbomii

Bombus ruderatus

Bombus terrestris

Chile

Polinización

Polinizadores

Chile

artículo original

versión publicada

metadata

metadata

WOS:000895467600004

0367-2530

hibrida

Ciencias Vegetales

Ciencias Ambientales y Ecología

ANID NE/S011870/1

SURPASS2

NERC NE/S011870/2

CONICET 1984/19

FAPESP 2018/14994-1

ANID NCN2021-050

ANID PIA/BASAL FB0002