Survival of bumblebee families improved by flowers

Flower-rich habitats are key to enhancing the survival of bumblebee families, according to new research involving UCL scientists. The team led by the UK's Centre for Ecology & Hydrology found that increasing flowers provided by spring-flowering trees, hedgerow plants and crops across the landscape - in combination with summer flower resources - can increase the probability of family survival to the next year by up to four times. The discovery comes from the largest ever study of wild bumblebee colonies and will help farmers and policy makers ensure the countryside is better suited to the needs of these vital but declining pollinators. Published today in the journal Nature , the study used DNA technology and remote sensing to identify, map and track mother, daughter and sister bumblebees over two years to reveal that access to high-quality food resources is vital to the survival of their populations. Three species - Bombus terrestris , the buff-tailed bumblebee; Bombus lapidarius , the red-tailed bumblebee and Bombus pascuorum , the common carder bee - were investigated by tracking more than 1,600 families across a farmed landscape in Buckinghamshire. Colonies located within 250-1,000 metres of habitats with high-quality food resources produced more daughter queens that survived to the following year. This is because springand summer-flowering plants provide pollen and nectar throughout the bees' life cycle.