Altitude sickness in pollinators: Skyward emigration holds consequences for a native bee

With the increasing severity of climate stressors, the elevational ranges of plant and animal species are pushing skyward. The channeling and redistribution of species is expected to increase in frequency and magnitude globally. However, any elevational gradient will be associated with decreasing air pressure, which will impose a degree of hypoxia on colonizing organisms. Insect species developing under depleted oxygen (O2) concentrations in controlled laboratory conditions are known to exhibit smaller adult sizes, reduced reproductive capacity, and lower survival rates, all of which represent major fitness consequences for insects. This begs the question as to whether altitudinal hypoxia might produce the same types of consequences as artificially reduced O2 in laboratory experiments. With this question in mind, we observed the development of a native bee species, Osmia lignaria across an elevational gradient in the Rocky Mountains, USA. Known commonly as the blue orchard bee, O. ..., , , # Altitude sickness in pollinators: Skyward emigration holds consequences for a native bee

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.xksn02vrk](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.xksn02vrk)

## Description of the data and file structure

These data support the paper, \"Altitude sickness in pollinators\" (S.A. Steffan and P.S. Dharampal), published in Ecology (ECY24-0221).

All data were derived from observations of wild \_Osmia lignaria\_ reared at positions along mountain slopes in northern Utah, USA. The bees are native to this range and were collected from local nests in 2023. The adult female bees had very recently provisioned hollow reeds with pollen and nectar for their young. The reeds were collected and then placed within indoor, controlled-environment structures along an elevational gradient (1300, 1900, 2500 m). After the bee larvae had completed their development (or died in the process), their adult size, mortality, and UPR were observed. These metrics represented evidence of how reduced amb...