Data and code from: Life-history traits predict ability of British wild bees to fill their climate envelopes
Data files
Sep 22, 2025 version files 21.56 KB
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RangeFillingCode.R
8.91 KB
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RangeFillingData.csv
4.68 KB
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README.md
5.09 KB
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Tree.tre
2.88 KB
Oct 07, 2025 version files 21.66 KB
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RangeFillingCode.R
8.88 KB
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RangeFillingData.csv
4.68 KB
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README.md
5.22 KB
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Tree.tre
2.88 KB
Abstract
Understanding why species fail to occupy the full extent of their climatically suitable ranges is critical for predicting responses to climate change. We examined 64 species of British wild bees to test how life-history traits influence the ability to fill climate envelopes. Climate envelopes were defined from species distribution models, and range filling was quantified as the proportion of each envelope containing a presence record. We then assessed relationships with four traits: pollen foraging specialization (lecty), overwintering stage, body size, and habitat breadth. Our analyses reveal that larger-bodied, generalist species with broad habitat use filled a greater proportion of their climate envelopes than smaller, specialist species with narrower habitat requirements. Very few species, all common generalist species, fully occupied their potential climatic ranges, highlighting the role of non-climatic barriers such as dispersal limitations and resource availability. These findings suggest that climate change may drive homogenization of British bee communities, favoring widespread generalist species able to overcome barriers to dispersal. This dataset contains the species trait data, climate envelope estimates, and reproducible R code that underpin these analyses.
1. ABOUT THE DATASET
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Title: Dataset and R code associated with the manuscript "Life-history traits predict ability of British wild bees to fill their climate envelopes"
Creators: Chris Wyver (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8661-0859), Stuart P. M. Roberts
Organisation(s): Centre for Agri-Environmental Research, School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, University of Reading RG6 6AR
Rights-holder(s): University of Reading
Publication Year: 2025
Description: This dataset contains biological traits and range filling metrics of 64 species of wild bee, as well as R code used to reproduce the results presented in the manuscript 'Biological traits predict ability of British wild bees to fill their climate envelopes'. This dataset contains bee presence data, climate envelope size, and life history traits (body size, habitat breadth, pollen foraging specialization (lecty), and overwintering stage). Climate envelopes were developed in Wyver, C., Potts, S.G., Edwards, M., Edwards, R. and Senapathi, D., 2023. Spatio‐temporal shifts in British wild bees in response to changing climate. Ecology and Evolution, 13(11), p.e10705.
Cite as: Wyver, C. & Roberts, S. P. M. R., (2025). Data code from: Life-history traits predict ability of British wild bees to fill their climate envelopes. Dataset. DOI: 10.5061/dryad.3j9kd51sb.
Related publication: Wyver, C., Potts, S.G., Roberts, S. P. M. R., and Senapathi, D. (2025). Life-history traits predict ability of British wild bees to fill their climate envelopes. Ecological Entomology. Accepted for publication
Contact: Chris Wyver, c.wyver@reading.ac.uk
2. PROJECT AND FUNDING INFORMATION
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Title: Mitigating risks to pollination services caused by climate change - PhD Project
Dates: Sept 19 - Jan 24
Funding organisation: BBSRC via Waitrose Collaborative Training Partnership
Grant number: BB/T508895/1
WorldWide Fruit Ltd contributed to the funding and development of this project.
3. CONTENTS
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RangeFillingData.csv - A .csv file containing all the data used to re-create the results in the manuscript "Biological traits predict ability of British wild bees to fill their climate envelopes". It contains biological traits and range filling metrics of 64 species of wild bee. It also contains traits data, comprising of four life-history traits (body size, habitat breadth, pollen foraging specialization (lecty), and overwintering stage, emergence period and voltinism) for each species.
- 8 variables, 64 rows
Variables:
- Species: taxonomic name for each of the 64 species of bee used in this analysis. Character
- Suitable.Habitat.Area: The number of grid squares containing suitable climate for the bee species. Derived from Wyver, C., Potts, S.G., Edwards, M., Edwards, R. and Senapathi, D., 2023. Spatio‐temporal shifts in British wild bees in response to changing climate. Ecology and Evolution, 13(11), p.e10705. Numeric
- Presence.Cells: The number of cells in Suitable.Habitat.Area containing a presence record from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). This dataset can be downloaded from https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.axexgg. Numeric
- Percent: The percentage of cells in Suitable.Habitat.Area containing a presence record (Presence.Cells/Suitable.Habitat.Area)*100. Numeric
- Habitat.Breadth: Number of habitats able to be used by each species, according to the European Red List of Bees. Numeric
- Body.Size: Mean interteguar distance, measured in mm, used as a proxy of size for each species. Numeric
- Lecty: Pollen foraging specialization of each species. Character
- Overwintering: Overwintering stage of each species. Character
RangeFillingCode.R - R script used to produce the analysis in the manuscript "Climate-driven phenological shifts in emergence dates of British bees". It contains details of the models used to understand how traits influence a species ability to fill its climate envelope.
Tree.tre - A phylogenetic tree containing the 64 species of wild bee used in this analysis. Derived from Hedtke, S. M., Patiny, S., & Danforth, B. N. (2013). The bee tree of life: A supermatrix approach to apoid phylogeny and biogeography. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 13(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-13-138
5. METHODS
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Bee range filling was calculated using presence-only records of bee observations, obtained from GBIF in Great Britian, and from climate envelopes, created in Wyver et al. (2023) Spatio-temporal shifts in British wild bees in response to changing climate.
A range filling percentage was calculated (the number of grid squares classified as suitable climate with an observation record, as a percentage of total number of grid squares classified as suitable climate.), and linear regression modelling used to test for the effects of three biological traits on the range filling percentage.
Changelog:
October 7, 2025: Replaced R script with a version that depersonalizes data locations and working directories.
- Wyver, Chris; Potts, Simon G.; Roberts, Stuart P. M.; Senapathi, Deepa (2025). Life‐history traits predict the ability of British wild bees to fill their climate envelopes. Ecological Entomology. https://doi.org/10.1111/een.70023