High thermal tolerance in high-elevation species and laboratory-reared colonies of tropical bumble bees.

ABSTRACT: Bumble bees are key pollinators with some species reared in captivity at a commercial scale, but with significant evidence of population declines and with alarming predictions of substantial impacts under climate change scenarios. While studies on the thermal biology of temperate bumble bees are still limited, they are entirely absent from the tropics where the effects of climate change are expected to be greater. Herein, we test whether bees' thermal tolerance decreases with elevation and whether the stable optimal conditions used in laboratory-reared colonies reduces their thermal tolerance. We assessed changes in the lower (CT_Min) and upper (CT_Max) critical thermal limits of four species at two elevations (2600 and 3600 m) in the Colombian Andes, examined the effec

SUBMITTER: Gonzalez VH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9720000 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature