Data from: Colony and individual life-history responses to temperature in a social insect pollinator

1. Pollinating insects are of major ecological and commercial importance,
yet they may be facing ecological disruption from a changing climate.
Despite this threat, few studies have investigated the life-history
responses of pollinators to experimentally controlled changes in
temperature, which should be especially informative for species with
complex life histories such as eusocial insects. 2. This study uses the
key pollinator Bombus terrestris, a eusocial bumblebee with an annual
colony cycle, to determine how temperature affects life-history traits at
both individual and colony levels. 3. In two laboratory experiments, we
reared B. terrestris colonies at either 20 or 25 °C, and measured
differences in a set of life-history traits including colony longevity,
queen longevity, worker longevity, production of workers, production of
sexuals (queen and male production) and growth schedule, as well as
effects on thermoregulatory behaviours. 4. Higher rearing temperature had
a significant positive effect on colony longevity in one of the two
experiments but no significant effects on queen or worker longevity.
Higher rearing temperature significantly increased colony size but did not
affect the timing of peak colony size. It was also associated with
significantly higher queen production but had no effect on the production
of workers or males or the timing of male production. Higher temperature
colonies exhibited significantly more wing fanning by workers and
significantly less wax canopy construction. Hence, an increase in rearing
temperature of a few degrees increased colony longevity, colony size and
queen production. However, individual longevity was not affected and so
may have been buffered by changes in costly thermoregulatory behaviours.
5. We conclude that eusocial insects may show complex phenotypic responses
to projected temperature increases under climate change, including effects
on productivity and reproduction at the colony level. Such effects should
be considered when predicting the impact of climate change on the
provision of essential pollination services.