Bumble bees exhibit body size clines across an urban gradient despite low genetic differentiation.

ABSTRACT: Environmental heterogeneity resulting from human-modified landscapes can increase intraspecific trait variation. However, less known is whether such phenotypic variation is driven by plastic or adaptive responses to local environments. Here, we study five bumble bee (Apidae: Bombus) species across an urban gradient in the greater Saint Louis, Missouri region in the North American Midwest and ask: (1) Can urban environments induce intraspecific spatial structuring of body size, an ecologically consequential functional trait? And, if so, (2) is this body size structure the result of plasticity or adaptation? We additionally estimate genetic diversity, inbreeding, and colony density of these species-three factors that affect extinction risk. Using ≥ 10 polymorphic microsatellite loci per spec

SUBMITTER: Austin MW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8907314 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature