How to translate text using browser tools
1 August 2015 Late-Season Survey of Bumble Bees along Canadian Highways of British Columbia and Yukon Territories
Timothy D. Hatten, James P. Strange, Jill M. Maxwell
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

Bumble bees are important pollinators of flowering plants, foraging and providing pollination services throughout the growing season. They are adapted to cool temperatures and are among the most important of all pollinators at high elevations and northern latitudes. Over the past several decades, multiple species of bumble bees have experienced declines in both geographic range and abundance in Europe and North America, while 4 species of the genus Bombus (Bombus) have suffered dramatic declines in the United States. Such declines are not as evident in Alaska, and the status of Bombus remains relatively unknown in the adjacent territories of Canada. To begin addressing this knowledge gap, we sampled the bumble bee fauna foraging on floral patches along 5 highways of Canada and southeastern Alaska in a short-term, one-time survey during late summer 2010. We observed 14 species and found Bombus assemblages to be structured by broad geographic features and ecoregions. The Bombus species B. (B.) occidentalis and B. (B.) terricola were relatively abundant in sample sites west and east of the Rocky Mountains, respectively, and B. (Pyrobombus) vagans, B. (Cullumanobombus) rufocinctus, and B. occidentalis were the most abundant species across all sites.

© 2015
Timothy D. Hatten, James P. Strange, and Jill M. Maxwell "Late-Season Survey of Bumble Bees along Canadian Highways of British Columbia and Yukon Territories," Western North American Naturalist 75(2), 170-180, (1 August 2015). https://doi.org/10.3398/064.075.0205
Received: 23 July 2014; Accepted: 1 March 2015; Published: 1 August 2015
RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS
Get copyright permission
Back to Top