Phenotypic plasticity underlies seasonal and latitudinal variation in thermal tolerance in a native bee.

ABSTRACT: Climate change threatens biodiversity and ecosystem services around the globe. Despite the importance of native bees as pollinators, there is evidence of global declines, and we know very little about how climate shapes their distributions now and into the future. In the current study, we combined large-scale seasonal field sampling and experimental acclimation to examine whether populations of an Australian bee, Exoneura robusta, vary in their capacity to adapt to different climates. Collecting female bees across a latitudinal cline and examining heat and cold tolerance, we found populations did not vary in their heat tolerance along a latitudinal gradient. In contrast, bees from higher latitudes tended to be more cold-tolerant than bees from lower latitudes, but the relationship between

SUBMITTER: Elmer MC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12411691 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature