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Dryad

Unveiling the submerged secrets: bumblebee queens' resilience to flooding

Cite this dataset

Rondeau, Sabrina; Raine, Nigel (2024). Unveiling the submerged secrets: bumblebee queens' resilience to flooding [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.37pvmcvsk

Abstract

In a previous study, an experimental oversight led to the accumulation of water filling a container housing diapausing bumblebee queens. Surprisingly, after draining the water, the queens were found to be alive. This observation raises a compelling question: can bumblebee queens endure periods of inundation while overwintering underground? To address this question, we conducted an experiment using 143 common eastern bumblebee (Bombus impatiens) queens placed in soil-filled tubes and subjected to artificially induced diapause in a refrigerated unit for seven days. Tap water was then added to the tubes and queens (n=21/treatment) were either maintained underwater using a plunger-like apparatus or left to float naturally on the water’s surface for varying durations (8h, 24h, or 7 days) while remaining in overwintering conditions. Seventeen queens served as controls. After the submersion period, queens were removed from the water, transferred to new tubes with soil, and kept in cold storage for 8 weeks. Overall queen survival remained consistently high (89.5 ± 6.4%) across all treatments and did not differ among submersion regimes and durations. These results demonstrate the remarkable ability of diapausing B. impatiens queens to withstand submersion underwater for up to one week, indicating their adaptations to survive periods of flooding in the wild.

README: Unveiling the submerged secrets: bumblebee queens' resilience to flooding

https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.37pvmcvsk

This README file describes the data package accompanying the publication: Rondeau S, Raine NE. 2024. Unveiling the submerged secrets: bumblebee queens' resilience to flooding. Biology Letters. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2023.0609

Description of the data and file structure

The file "Data_flooding.csv" contains the dataset analyzed in the study. The description of each variable is as follows:

  • Bee_ID: unique bumblebee queen identifier
  • Maternal_colony: the parental colony of each queen
  • Weight: weight of the queens, in mg
  • Submersion: submersion regime (ctl = Control; floating = Left to float; underwater = Maintained underwater)
  • Duration: submersion duration (N/A = not applicable; 8 = 8 hours; 24 = 24 hours; 7 = 7 days)
  • Tx: Treatment (combination of 'Submersion' and 'Duration': e.g. floating_24 = Left to float during 24 hours)
  • Time: week of survival assessment (1 week, 4 weeks, or 8 weeks)
  • Survival: 1 = alive; 0 = dead

Code/Software

The file 'Code_flooding.R' reproduces the analyses of the article cited above.

Funding

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, Award: 2021-04210, Discovery Grant

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, Award: PDF-5783-2023, Postdoctoral Fellowship

Fonds de Recherche du Québec – Nature et Technologies, Award: 2023-2024-B3X-332009, Postdoctoral Fellowship

The Weston Family Foundation