Local habitat type influences bumble bee pathogen loads and bee species distribution

Bumble bees (Bombus spp.) perform important ecological services in both managed and natural ecosystems. Anthropogenically-induced change, however, has altered the availability of floral resources, climatic suitability, and exposure to insecticides, factors that impact overall health and disease levels in these bees. Habitat management presents a solution for improving bee health and biodiversity, but this requires better understanding of how different pathogens and bee species respond to habitat conditions. Herein, we take advantage of the washboard of repeated ridges (forested) and valleys (mostly unforested and developed) in central Pennsylvania to examine whether local variation in habitat type and other landscape factors influence bumble bee community composition and the levels of four leading pathogens in the common eastern bumble bee, Bombus impatiens. Loads of viral pathogens (deformed wing virus and black queen cell virus) were found to be lowest in forest habitats, whereas load..., ,

熊蜂属（Bombus spp.）在人工管理与自然生态系统中均发挥着关键的生态服务功能。然而，人为活动诱导的环境变化改变了花卉资源可获得性、气候适宜性以及杀虫剂暴露水平，这些因素均会影响熊蜂的整体健康状况与病害发生程度。生境管理是提升蜂类健康与生物多样性的可行方案，但该方案的落地有赖于深入阐明不同病原物与蜂类物种对生境条件的响应机制。本研究借助宾夕法尼亚州中部形如洗衣板的连片林脊（森林覆盖）与大多未被森林覆盖且已开发的山谷相间的地形条件，探究生境类型的局部差异及其他景观因子是否会影响熊蜂群落组成，以及普通东方熊蜂（Bombus impatiens）体内四种主要病原物的载量水平。研究发现，森林生境中的畸形翅病毒（deformed wing virus）与黑蜂王台病毒（black queen cell virus）这两种病毒病原物的载量最低，而载量……