School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, United Kingdom.
PeerJ. 2024 Mar 22;12:e17135. doi: 10.7717/peerj.17135. eCollection 2024.
Climate change is currently considered one of the major threats to biodiversity and is associated with an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, such as heatwaves. Heatwaves create acutely stressful conditions that may lead to disruption in the performance and survival of ecologically and economically important organisms, such as insect pollinators. In this study, we investigated the impact of simulated heatwaves on the performance of queenless microcolonies of under laboratory conditions. Our results indicate that heatwaves can have significant impacts on bumblebee performance. However, contrary to our expectations, exposure to heatwaves did not affect survival. Exposure to a mild 5-day heatwave (30-32 °C) resulted in increased offspring production compared to those exposed to an extreme heatwave (34-36 °C) and to the control group (24 °C). We also found that brood-care behaviours were impacted by the magnitude of the heatwave. Wing fanning occurred occasionally at temperatures of 30-32 °C, whereas at 34-36 °C the proportion of workers engaged in this thermoregulatory behaviour increased significantly. Our results provide insights into the effects of heatwaves on bumblebee colony performance and underscore the use of microcolonies as a valuable tool for studying the effects of extreme weather events. Future research, especially field-based studies replicating natural foraging conditions, is crucial to complement laboratory-based studies to comprehend how heatwaves compromise the performance of pollinators. Such studies may potentially help to identify those species more resilient to climate change, as well as those that are most vulnerable.
气候变化目前被认为是生物多样性的主要威胁之一，并与极端天气事件（如热浪）的频率和强度增加有关。热浪会造成极度的压力条件，可能导致生态和经济重要生物（如昆虫传粉媒介）的表现和生存受到破坏。在这项研究中，我们在实验室条件下研究了模拟热浪对无蜂王的小型熊蜂殖民地表现的影响。我们的结果表明，热浪会对熊蜂的性能产生重大影响。然而，与我们的预期相反，暴露在热浪下并不会影响其存活率。与暴露在极端热浪（34-36°C）和对照组（24°C）相比，暴露在温和的 5 天热浪（30-32°C）下会导致后代数量增加。我们还发现，育雏行为受到热浪强度的影响。在 30-32°C 的温度下偶尔会发生翅膀扇动，而在 34-36°C 时，参与这种体温调节行为的工蜂比例显著增加。我们的研究结果提供了热浪对熊蜂殖民地表现的影响的见解，并强调了使用微型殖民地作为研究极端天气事件影响的宝贵工具。未来的研究，特别是复制自然觅食条件的实地研究，对于补充基于实验室的研究至关重要，以了解热浪如何影响传粉媒介的表现。这些研究可能有助于确定对气候变化更具弹性的物种，以及那些最脆弱的物种。
