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Dryad

Data for: Long-term surveys support declines in early-season forest plants used by bumble bees

Data files

Apr 07, 2021 version files 827.06 MB

Abstract

  1. Populations of bumble bees and other pollinators have declined over the past several decades due to numerous threats, including habitat loss and degradation. However, we can rarely investigate the role of resource loss due to a lack of detailed long-term records of forage plants and habitats.
  2. We use 22-year repeated surveys of more than 262 sites located in grassland, forest, and wetland habitats across Illinois, USA to explore how the abundance and richness of bumble bee food plants have changed over the period of decline of the endangered rusty patched bumble bee (Bombus affinis).
  3. We document a decline in abundance of bumble bee forage plants in forest understories, which our phenology analysis suggests provide the primary nectar and pollen sources for foundress queens in spring, a critical life stage in bumble bee demography. By contrast, the per-unit area abundance of food plants in primarily midsummer-flowering grassland and wetland habitats has not declined. However, the total area of grasslands has declined across the region resulting in a net loss of grassland resources.
  4. The data for this project is provided alongside the scripts needed to reconduct analyses and generate figures.