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New records of an invasive bumble bee in northern Chile: expansion of its range or new introduction events?

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Abstract

The Eurasian bumble bee Bombus terrestris Linnaeus has been used commercially for pollination of a large number of crop species worldwide. This species has become invasive in several countries where it has escaped into natural environments. This species has become naturalized in many zones of Chile and southern Argentina, and may potentially invade other regions and countries in South America. These naturalized populations of B. terrestris have been associated with rapid population declines of the native bee B. dahlbomii Guérin-Méneville. We report new records of the exotic bee B. terrestris in the Region de Arica y Parinacota in the far north of Chile, which includes portions of the Atacama Desert. We used species distribution models (SDMs) and multivariate analyses to evaluate whether these occurrences represent new escapes from managed colonies or natural dispersal of the species from its southern invaded range. These reports of B. terrestris indicate a northward expansion of this bee. In our analyses, these new areas of occurrences have environmental conditions similar to those observed in the species’ southern invaded range, and our SDMs predict that B. terrestris dispersal through the Atacama is possible, although not likely given the occasional flower blooming in that region of Chile. These new occurrences in northern Chile reflect a potential for future invasion into other regions of South America by B. terrestris. Future surveys in the area should be intensified to evaluate if viable populations of this invasive species may become established.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all of the “Salvemos Nuestro Abejorro” members, without whom this research would not be possible. We also thank Leah S. Dudley, Jessie Knowlton, Rich Hatfield, Aline Martins, Sara Lodi Spacek, and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments that improved a previous version of this manuscript. We thank Rodrigo Escuti for the pictures of the blooming desert, figure 6 A, B, and Juan Alegria for the picture of B. terrestris foraging, figure 6 C. This paper is part of the SIGMA project Nº21565 MN/UFRJ and the contribution number is 17 from the HYMN.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Salvemos Nuestro Abejorro, 712 Terril Road, Menomonie, WI, USA

    José Montalva

  2. Salvemos Nuestro Abejorro, Arturo Gallo, nº 469, XV Región de Arica y Parinacota, Chile

    Victor Sepulveda

  3. HYMN Laboratório de Hymenoptera, Departamento de Entomologia, Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Quinta da Boa Vista, São Cristóvão, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 20940-040, Brazil

    Felipe Vivallo

  4. Departamento de Biologia, Instituto Federal Goiano, Urutaí, GO, 75790-000, Brazil

    Daniel Paiva Silva

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  1. José Montalva
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  4. Daniel Paiva Silva
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Correspondence to Daniel Paiva Silva.

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Montalva, J., Sepulveda, V., Vivallo, F. et al. New records of an invasive bumble bee in northern Chile: expansion of its range or new introduction events?. J Insect Conserv 21, 657–666 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-017-0008-x

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