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The Interplay Between Visual Traits and Forest in Bumblebee Communities Across Sweden

Tichit, Pierre LU orcid ; Kendall, Liam LU ; Olsson, Peter LU orcid ; Taylor, Gavin ; Rau, Christoph ; Caplat, Paul LU ; Smith, Henrik G. LU orcid and Baird, Emily LU (2024) In Ecology and Evolution 14(12).
Abstract

Understanding how ecological communities assemble in relation to natural and human-induced environmental changes is critical, particularly for communities of pollinators that deliver essential ecosystem services. Despite widespread attention to interactions between functional traits and community responses to environmental changes, the importance of sensory traits has received little attention. To address this, we asked whether visual traits of bumblebee communities varied at large geographical scales along a habitat gradient of increased tree cover. Because trees generate challenging light conditions for flying insects, in particular a reduced light intensity, we hypothesised that differences in tree cover would correlate with shifts... (More)

Understanding how ecological communities assemble in relation to natural and human-induced environmental changes is critical, particularly for communities of pollinators that deliver essential ecosystem services. Despite widespread attention to interactions between functional traits and community responses to environmental changes, the importance of sensory traits has received little attention. To address this, we asked whether visual traits of bumblebee communities varied at large geographical scales along a habitat gradient of increased tree cover. Because trees generate challenging light conditions for flying insects, in particular a reduced light intensity, we hypothesised that differences in tree cover would correlate with shifts in the visual and taxonomical composition of bumblebee communities. We quantified 11 visual traits across 36 specimens from 20 species of bumblebees using micro-CT and optical modelling of compound eyes and ocelli, and investigated how these traits scale with body size. Using an inventory of bumblebee communities across Sweden and our visual trait dataset, we then explored how visual traits (both absolute and relative to body size) differed in relation to tree cover. We found positive shifts of the community weighted means of visual traits along the increasingly forested habitat gradient (facet diameter, inter-ommatidial angle, eye parameter of the compound eye and alignment of the three ocelli) that were consistent regardless of body size, while other traits decreased when more forest was present in the landscape (facet number). These functional patterns were associated with differences in the abundance of six common species that likely explains the community-wide shift of visual traits along the habitat gradient. Our study demonstrates the interaction between vision, habitat and community assembly in bumblebees, while highlighting a promising research topic at the interface between sensory biology and landscape ecology.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
animal senses, community assembly, compound eyes, functional ecology, X-ray microtomography
in
Ecology and Evolution
volume
14
issue
12
article number
e70635
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • pmid:39717629
  • scopus:85212760691
ISSN
2045-7758
DOI
10.1002/ece3.70635
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
920c273a-4eff-48c7-a82e-f0f784699958
date added to LUP
2025-01-16 14:41:51
date last changed
2025-07-04 04:59:48
@article{920c273a-4eff-48c7-a82e-f0f784699958,
  abstract     = {{<p>Understanding how ecological communities assemble in relation to natural and human-induced environmental changes is critical, particularly for communities of pollinators that deliver essential ecosystem services. Despite widespread attention to interactions between functional traits and community responses to environmental changes, the importance of sensory traits has received little attention. To address this, we asked whether visual traits of bumblebee communities varied at large geographical scales along a habitat gradient of increased tree cover. Because trees generate challenging light conditions for flying insects, in particular a reduced light intensity, we hypothesised that differences in tree cover would correlate with shifts in the visual and taxonomical composition of bumblebee communities. We quantified 11 visual traits across 36 specimens from 20 species of bumblebees using micro-CT and optical modelling of compound eyes and ocelli, and investigated how these traits scale with body size. Using an inventory of bumblebee communities across Sweden and our visual trait dataset, we then explored how visual traits (both absolute and relative to body size) differed in relation to tree cover. We found positive shifts of the community weighted means of visual traits along the increasingly forested habitat gradient (facet diameter, inter-ommatidial angle, eye parameter of the compound eye and alignment of the three ocelli) that were consistent regardless of body size, while other traits decreased when more forest was present in the landscape (facet number). These functional patterns were associated with differences in the abundance of six common species that likely explains the community-wide shift of visual traits along the habitat gradient. Our study demonstrates the interaction between vision, habitat and community assembly in bumblebees, while highlighting a promising research topic at the interface between sensory biology and landscape ecology.</p>}},
  author       = {{Tichit, Pierre and Kendall, Liam and Olsson, Peter and Taylor, Gavin and Rau, Christoph and Caplat, Paul and Smith, Henrik G. and Baird, Emily}},
  issn         = {{2045-7758}},
  keywords     = {{animal senses; community assembly; compound eyes; functional ecology; X-ray microtomography}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{12}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Ecology and Evolution}},
  title        = {{The Interplay Between Visual Traits and Forest in Bumblebee Communities Across Sweden}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70635}},
  doi          = {{10.1002/ece3.70635}},
  volume       = {{14}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}