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Division of foraging labor in the bumble bee, Bombus impatiens : effect of removing pollen specialists and colony adoption

Abstract

Foraging specialization plays an important role in the ability of social Hymenoptera to efficiently allocate labor and adapt to environmental changes. However, relatively little is known about whether bumble bees, important social pollinators, can flexibly allocate their foraging. I removed pollen specialists at different stages in the life of a Bombus impatiens colony and recorded the pollen and nectar foraging of every forager on each foraging trip over the lifetimes of five established colonies. Adult bumble bee foragers were defined as pollen specialists (>̲90% of all foraging visits on pollen), nectar specialists (>̲90% of all foraging visits on nectar) or generalists (all other foragers). The removal of pollen specialists at early and late phases in colony life led to increased pollen foraging (36% and 14% increase, respectively) by generalist foragers. After pollen specialists were reintroduced, generalists decreased pollen foraging to prior levels. A uniform, proportional extraction of all forager types had no effect on the foraging of generalists remaining in the colony. Thus, the specific removal of pollen specialists caused the foraging compensation by generalists. This shows the importance of pollen specialists and the colony's ability to reallocate their foraging labor in response to pollen foraging labor shortages

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