Abstract

Pollinator conservation is aided by knowledge of dispersal behavior, which shapes gene flow and population structure. In many bees, dispersal is thought to be male-biased, and males’ movements may be critical to maintaining gene flow in disturbed and fragmented habitats. Yet male bee movements are challenging to track directly and male dispersal ability remains poorly understood in most species. Here, we combine field manipulations and models to assess male dispersal ability in a stingless bee (Tetragonula carbonaria). We placed colonies with virgin queens at varying distances apart (1–48 km), genotyped the males that gathered at mating aggregations outside each colony, and used pairwise sibship assignment to determine the distribution of likely brothers across aggregations. We then compared simulations of male dispersal to our observed distributions and found best-fit models when males dispersed an average of 2–3 km (>2-fold female flight ranges), and maximum of 20 km (30-fold female flight ranges). Our data supports the view that male bee dispersal can facilitate gene flow over long-distances, and thus play a key role in bee populations’ resilience to habitat loss and fragmentation. In addition, we show that the number of families contributing to male aggregations can be used to estimate local stingless bee colony densities, allowing population monitoring of these important tropical pollinators.

Highlights

  • IntroductionIn many animals, offspring actively disperse away from their place of birth

  • We find that male stingless bees are efficient dispersers, capable of dispersing long distances from their natal nests

  • Based on the sibship probabilities of males sampled at mating aggregations, we estimate that the average male T. carbonaria travels 2–3 km from their natal nest before joining a mating aggregation, and that some males travel up to 20 km

Read more

Summary

Introduction

In many animals, offspring actively disperse away from their place of birth. Such dispersal allows an individual to access new resources, reduces competition for mates, and minimizes the risk of breeding with near relatives (Chaine and Clobert, 2012). Local persistence, colonization ability, gene flow, and local adaptation are all shaped by the extent and direction of dispersal (Chaine and Clobert, 2012). These processes in turn are critical for predicting a species’ vulnerability to environmental change. Increasing threats to wild bee populations from habitat loss, degradation, and climate change have highlighted the need to better understand the factors that

Objectives
Methods
Results
Conclusion
Full Text
Published version (Free)

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call