Data from: Linking the foraging behavior of three bee species to pollen dispersal and gene flow

Foraging behaviors that impact gene flow can guide the design of
pollinator strategies to mitigate gene flow. Reduced gene flow is expected
to minimize the impact of genetically engineered (GE) crops on feral and
natural populations and to facilitate the coexistence of different
agricultural markets. The goal of this study is to link foraging behavior
to gene flow and identify behaviors that can help predict gene flow for
different bee species. To reach this goal, we first examined and compared
the foraging behaviors of three distinct bee species, the European honey
bee, Apis mellifera L., the common eastern bumble bee, Bombus impatiens
Cr., and the alfalfa leafcutting bee, Megachile rotundata F., foraging on
Medicago sativa flowers. Each foraging behavior investigated differed
among bee species. Both social bees exhibited directionality of movement
and had similar residence, in contrast to the random movement and shorter
residence of the solitary bee. Tripping rate and net distance traveled
differed among the three bee species. We ranked each behavior among bee
species and used the relative ranking as gene flow predictor before
testing the predictions against empirical gene flow data. Tripping rate
and net distance traveled, but not residence, predicted relative gene
dispersal among bee species. Linking specific behaviors to gene flow
provides mechanisms to explain differences in gene flow among bee species
and guides the development of management practices to reduce gene flow.
Although developed in one system, the approach developed here can be
generalized to different plant/pollinator systems.