Karen Booth

1. Investigation into the foraging behaviour of bumblebees on varying flowering vegetation, across the habitats of the RSPB reserve, Dungeness, Kent. Karen Booth

2. Overall Aims • Assess which habitats, on the RSPB reserve, Dungeness, Kent, are most suitable for the re-introduction of Bombus subterraneus. • Replicate and manage habitats.

3. Grassland(managed to provide a legume rich sward)

4. Semi-natural vegetated shingle

5. Rank vegetation at the margins of wetlands

6. Grazed Field

7. Bombus subterraneus

8. Research Questions 1. How does the abundance of each recorded species of current Bombus vary across the four habitats? 2. How does the total number of Bombus sightings vary across the four habitats? 3. Which habitat contains the greatest abundance of flowering vegetation preferred by Bombus subterraneus? 4. Which current Bombus species prefer to forage on which flowering vegetation family across the four habitats?

9. Study Design • 18th of July to 1st August 2009. • Females actively foraging for nectar and pollen. • Between the hours of 8.30am and 5.00pm. • Five 20x20m ‘working quadrats’. • Three 15 minute bee walks conducted in each working quadrat. • Foraging Bombus species and flowering vegetation were identified. • Unidentifiable Bombus individuals were caught in the meshed sample pot and inspected. • 20 random small quadrats were thrown in each working quadrat. • Flowering vegetation within the quadrat was identified and recorded.

10. Further inspection of specimen

11. Quadrat

12. Results

13. Pooled total number of Bombus visits recorded across four habitats ± standard deviation, collected July/August 2009, Dungeness, Kent, UK.

14. Objective 1 • Grassland had significantly greater Bombus hortorum than other habitats (F ratio > F critical value). • Wetland had significantly greater abundance of ‘ginger bees’ than other habitats (F ratio > F critical value).

15. Pooled total number of Bombus sightings recorded across four habitats ± standard deviation, collected July/August 2009, Dungeness, Kent, UK.

16. Objective 2 • Grassland had significantly greater Bombus sightings than other habitats (F ratio > F critical value).

17. Pooled total number of flowering plant species recorded across the wetland habitat ± standard deviation, collected July/August 2009, Dungeness, Kent, UK.

18. Objective 3 • Only habitat to hold specific Bombus subterraneus preferred species of flowering vegetation including viper’s bugloss (Echium vulgare), yellow melilot (Melilotus altissima), common teasel (Dipsacus fullonum) was wetland habitat.

19. Objective 4 • Wetland habitat: Bombus terrestris/lucorum prefers the pooled recorded species of the Borage family (including just viper’s bugloss). • Wetland habitat: the pooled ‘Ginger Bees’ prefer the pooled recorded species of the Borage family (including just viper’s bugloss).

20. Conclusions Importance of bumblebees • Decline in British bumblebee abundance; loss of numbers can result in changes in plant communities, and associated herbivore communities (Goulson et al., 2005). Why has this decline occurred? • Intensified farming practices (Osborne & Corbet, 1994) (Carvell, 2002).

21. Conclusions Relating findings to the future • Bombus hortorum and the ‘ginger bees’ are both long-tongued species like Bombus subterraneus. • Grassland habitat should perhaps be replicated and continued to be managed sufficiently. • Wetland habitat should perhaps be replicated and continued to be managed sufficiently. • Vegetation at the edge of the wetlands had greatest abundance of plants preferred by Bombus subterraneus, including common teasel, viper’s bugloss and yellow melilot. Survey areas and control invasive species. • Extra effort into managing and increasing populations of viper’s bugloss on wetland habitats.

22. Questions?