PARIS: Bumblebees can surprisingly stand up to days underwater, in response to a examine revealed Wednesday, suggesting they might stand up to elevated floods introduced on by local weather change that threaten their winter hibernation burrows.
The survival of those pollinators which can be essential to ecosystems is “encouraging” amid worrying international traits of their declining populations, the examine’s lead writer Sabrina Rondeau advised AFP.
With international warming prompting extra frequent and excessive floods in areas around the globe, it poses “an unpredictable problem for soil-dwelling species, significantly bees nesting or overwintering underground”, co-author Nigel Raine of the College of Guelph mentioned in a press release.
Rondeau mentioned she first found queen bumblebees may stand up to drowning accidentally.
She had been finding out the impact of pesticide residues in soil on queen bumblebees that burrow underground for the winter when water by accident entered the tubes housing a couple of of the bees.
“I freaked out,” mentioned Rondeau, who had been conducting the experiment for her doctoral research. “It was solely a small proportion… so it was not that huge of a deal, however I did not wish to lose these bees.”
To her “shock”, she mentioned, they survived.
“I have been finding out bumblebees for a really very long time. I’ve talked about it to lots of people and nobody knew that this was a risk,” she mentioned.
She launched one other experiment to raised perceive what occurred.
Researchers positioned 143 hibernating queen bumblebees in tubes — some with no water as a comparative group, some floating in water and a few absolutely submerged utilizing a plunger for a interval starting from eight hours to seven days, in response to the examine revealed within the journal Biology Letters.
Remarkably, 81 p.c of the hibernating queens that had been submerged not solely survived seven days, however as soon as returned to dry situations remained alive eight weeks later.
The long-term affect on the bees’ well being and the results it may have on a colony nonetheless wants additional analysis, Rondeau famous.
The frequent jap bumblebees used within the examine are present in North America and are significantly hardy, not exhibiting the identical diploma of inhabitants declines as different bee species, she mentioned.
“So we’re additionally questioning whether or not this resistance to flooding might be a part of why they’re doing so effectively,” mentioned Rondeau, now a postdoctoral fellow on the College of Ottawa.
The examine must be replicated on different species of bumblebees to find out how frequent the trait is.
“However it’s encouraging to know that a minimum of (flooding) isn’t one other huge menace that we now have to think about,” she mentioned.
The survival of those pollinators which can be essential to ecosystems is “encouraging” amid worrying international traits of their declining populations, the examine’s lead writer Sabrina Rondeau advised AFP.
With international warming prompting extra frequent and excessive floods in areas around the globe, it poses “an unpredictable problem for soil-dwelling species, significantly bees nesting or overwintering underground”, co-author Nigel Raine of the College of Guelph mentioned in a press release.
Rondeau mentioned she first found queen bumblebees may stand up to drowning accidentally.
She had been finding out the impact of pesticide residues in soil on queen bumblebees that burrow underground for the winter when water by accident entered the tubes housing a couple of of the bees.
“I freaked out,” mentioned Rondeau, who had been conducting the experiment for her doctoral research. “It was solely a small proportion… so it was not that huge of a deal, however I did not wish to lose these bees.”
To her “shock”, she mentioned, they survived.
“I have been finding out bumblebees for a really very long time. I’ve talked about it to lots of people and nobody knew that this was a risk,” she mentioned.
She launched one other experiment to raised perceive what occurred.
Researchers positioned 143 hibernating queen bumblebees in tubes — some with no water as a comparative group, some floating in water and a few absolutely submerged utilizing a plunger for a interval starting from eight hours to seven days, in response to the examine revealed within the journal Biology Letters.
Remarkably, 81 p.c of the hibernating queens that had been submerged not solely survived seven days, however as soon as returned to dry situations remained alive eight weeks later.
The long-term affect on the bees’ well being and the results it may have on a colony nonetheless wants additional analysis, Rondeau famous.
The frequent jap bumblebees used within the examine are present in North America and are significantly hardy, not exhibiting the identical diploma of inhabitants declines as different bee species, she mentioned.
“So we’re additionally questioning whether or not this resistance to flooding might be a part of why they’re doing so effectively,” mentioned Rondeau, now a postdoctoral fellow on the College of Ottawa.
The examine must be replicated on different species of bumblebees to find out how frequent the trait is.
“However it’s encouraging to know that a minimum of (flooding) isn’t one other huge menace that we now have to think about,” she mentioned.
