UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH
Queen Bumblebees Can Live on Underwater, Reveals New U of G Analysis
College of Guelph researchers have made an sudden discovery that bumblebee queens are remarkably resilient to flooding – a discovering that sheds gentle at the bizarre diversifications of those important insect pollinators.
The learn about led by means of postdoctoral researcher Dr. Sabrina Rondeau and College of Environmental Sciences professor Dr. Nigel Raine marks the primary investigation at the skill of bumblebee queens to continue to exist extended classes of entire submersion whilst overwintering underground.
A closeup of a bumblebee foraging on an apple blossom (Photograph by means of Nigel Raine)
Bumblebees are a very powerful insect pollinators, identified for his or her significance in ecosystems international. All the way through the chilly season, queen bumblebees retreat underground to overwinter in small burrows.
In most cases, they search out well-drained soil, frequently in banks, to hibernate till spring arrives. Those soil traits most likely serve to give protection to them from flooding, a probably deadly risk to many terrestrial organisms.
The invention the U of G workforce made, detailed in Biology Letters, arose from an sudden experimental error when water by chance flooded boxes housing overwintering bumblebee queens.
“Upon discovering the submerged queens, I tired the water from the tubes and the queens have been nonetheless alive. I used to be stunned,” Rondeau recollects.
This led the researchers to delve deeper into this thriller. The learn about concerned exposing commercially-reared bumblebee queens to a variety of submersion therapies whilst they have been overwintering underneath managed stipulations.
Strangely, the queens maintained underwater for as much as seven days confirmed no decrease survival charges in comparison to the keep an eye on team now not uncovered to water.
Bumblebees show outstanding resilience in flooding
“Flooding is an unpredictable problem for soil-dwelling species, in particular bees nesting or overwintering underground,” Raine mentioned. “This space of analysis has remained in large part unexplored till now, opening many avenues for additional investigation.”
Bumblebee queens’ tolerance to submersion happens right through diapause, a state of suspended enlargement and replica this is characterised by means of diminished oxygen consumption.
Rondeau defined, “Bugs breathe via spiracles, now not nostrils like people. All the way through diapause, spiracles can stay closed for prolonged classes, combating water from coming into the frame.” Submerged bumblebee queens may additionally use cuticular breathing (pores and skin respiring), facilitated by means of trapped air bubbles on their frame floor.
The findings underscore the will for additional analysis into the mechanisms in the back of bumblebee resilience, particularly within the context of escalating excessive climate occasions.
As local weather exchange intensifies, insights from this learn about may just tell methods for preserving those important pollinators and the ecosystems they make stronger.
This paintings used to be supported by means of the Herbal Sciences and Engineering Analysis Council (NSERC), and a grant from the Weston Circle of relatives Basis.
Rondeau used to be supported by means of postdoctoral fellowships from the Herbal Sciences and Engineering Analysis Council of Canada (PDF-5783-2023), the L’Oréal-UNESCO for Girls in Science Program, the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Nature et applied sciences (2023-2024 – B3X-332009) and the Weston Circle of relatives Basis. Raine is supported because the Rebanks Circle of relatives Chair in Pollinator Conservation by means of the Weston Circle of relatives Basis.
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