ARS Researchers find that hydration is key to bee survival in hot and humid environments.
We humans are always reminded to hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. Among other benefits, proper hydration helps make sure our organs function properly, helps improve our brain function, helps regulate our temperature, and helps with digestion. We are not the only species, however, that depends on proper hydration for healthy living. It turns out bumble bees need to stay hydrated as well.
“For insect pollinators like bumble bees to survive and reproduce, they need to maintain an adequate hydration level,” said Karl Roeder, Research Entomologist at the North Central Agricultural Research Lab in Brookings, SD. “Erratic weather patterns have the potential to increase the rate at which insects lose water. This increased desiccation stress may lower survival rates, but more work is needed to link individual physiology to the dynamics of wild and managed bee populations.”
Photo Caption/Credit: ARS postdoc Jamieson Botsch used samples of the common eastern bumble bee to measure how they resist and tolerate water loss across a range of temperature and humidity conditions.
This article was originally published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture
