ddRAD (quaddRAD) data of bumblebees

Insect pollination is fundamental for natural ecosystems and agricultural
crops. The bumblebee species Bombus terrestris has become a popular choice
for commercial crop pollination worldwide due to its effectiveness and
ease of mass rearing. Bumblebee colonies are mass-produced for the
pollination of more than 20 crops and imported into over 50 countries
including countries outside their native ranges, and the risk of invasion
by commercial non-native bumblebees is considered as an emerging issue for
global conservation and biological diversity. Here we use genome-wide data
from seven wild populations close to and far from farms using commercial
colonies, as well as commercial populations, to investigate the
implications of utilising commercial bumblebee subspecies in the UK. We
find evidence for generally low levels of introgression between commercial
and wild bees, with higher admixture proportions in the bees occurring
close to farms. We identify genomic regions putatively involved in local
and global adaptation, and genes in locally adaptive regions were found to
be enriched for functions related to taste receptor activity,
oxidoreductase activity, fatty acid and lipid biosynthetic processes.
Despite more than 30 years of bumblebee colony importation into the UK, we
observe low impact on the genetic integrity of local B. terrestris
populations, but we highlight that even limited introgression might
negatively affect locally adapted alleles.