Comparing the foraging patterns of the honey bee (Apis mellifera) and common eastern bumble bee (Bombus impatiens) in a suburban-agricultural landscape

Approximately 87% of flowering plants, and 35 % of overall crop and seed production require animal pollination. Animal pollination by bees is arguably one of the most important for biodiversity conservation and agricultural productivity, however bee populations are in decline. Bees are centrally place foragers, and as such, the resources available to them are a function of their foraging range. To implement appropriate land management schemes it is important to understand the similarities and differences in foraging dynamics among bee taxa within the same landscape. In this experiment we compare and contrast the temporal foraging dynamics of the honey bee (Apis mellifera), and common eastern bumble bee (Bombus impatiens). Using experimental hives, individuals of each species were RFID tagged with unique identification numbers. The movement of individuals into and out of the hive, and the rate of return of pollen foragers was recorded across hours, days, and weeks throughout the summer. From these data we were able to determine the temporal foraging patterns of individual bees over time.