The shifting importance of abiotic and biotic factors across the life cycles of wild pollinators.

Abstract

Organisms living in seasonal environments are exposed to different environmental conditions as they transition from one life stage to the next across their life cycle. How different life stages respond to these varying conditions, and the extent to which different life stages are linked, are fundamental components of the ecology of an organism. Nevertheless, the influence of abiotic and biotic factors on different parts of an organism's life cycle is often not accounted for, which limits our understanding of the ecological consequences of environmental change. We investigated the relative importance of climate conditions, food availability, and previous life-stage abundance in an assemblage of seven wild bumble bee species, asking: how do these three factors directly influence bee abundance at each life stage? To do so, we used a 7-year dataset where we monitored climate conditions, floral resources, and abundances of bees in each life stage across the active colony life cycle in a highly seasonal subalpine ecosystem in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, USA. Bee abundance at different life stages responded to abiotic and biotic conditions in a broadly consistent manner across the seven species: the survival and recruitment stage of the life cycle (overwintered queens) responded negatively to longer winters; the growth stage (workers) responded positively to floral resource availability; and the reproductive stage (males) was positively related to the abundance of the previous life stage (workers). Most species also exhibited some idiosyncratic responses. Our long-term examination of annual bumble bees reveals a general set of responses in the abundance of each life stage to climate conditions, floral resource availability, and previous life stage. Across species, these three factors each directly influenced a distinct life stage, illustrating how their relative importance can shift throughout the life cycle. The life-cycle approach that we have taken highlights that important details about demography can be overlooked without considering life-stage-specific responses. Ultimately, it is these life-stage-specific responses that shape population outcomes, not only for animal pollinators but also for many organisms living in seasonal environments.