In the course of experiments to test how well commercial bumblebees pollinate early spring crops, researchers made a surprising discovery: dead wild bumblebee queens in the hives, an average of 10 per nest box.
In the course of experiments to test how well commercial bumblebees pollinate early spring crops, researchers made a surprising discovery: dead wild bumblebee queens in the hives, an average of 10 per nest box.
A new study finds that nest boxes of commercial eastern common bumblebees (Bombus impatiens) lead to the deaths of wild queens who are attracted to the brightly colored hives.
The boxes draw wild B. impatiens queens (and those of other species) engaged in usurpation, a natural behavior in which a queen who has yet to establish her own nest takes over another queen’s nest for a potential advantage. These usurping wild queens are killed by workers upon entry, as commercial hives have many more workers than natural nests.
Read more at: Cornell University
Senior Lecturer Heather Grab interacts with bees in the lab in Comstock Hall. (Photo Credit: Cornell University)
