Anthropogenic stressors drive microbiome assembly: A global meta-analysis of bumble bees.
Macpherson CV, Daisley BA, Drosdowech SM, Meers JA, Raine NE
Pollinators
Every strawberry, tomato, and squash in your garden depends on bumble bees that may be quietly losing the gut bacteria that keep them healthy and effective as pollinators.
Scientists looked at the tiny organisms living inside bumble bee guts across 15 studies from 9 countries and found that bees raised indoors — like those used in greenhouse tomato farms — have a much simpler, less healthy community of microbes than bees living outdoors in nature. Outdoor bees had more than twice as many types of gut microbes, which are thought to help bees fight off disease and stress. This suggests that how and where we raise bees for pollination may be quietly undermining their health.
Key Findings
Outdoor bumble bees hosted 253% more microbial genera than indoor-reared bees, with higher diversity, connectivity, and community stability.
Indoor versus outdoor rearing was the single strongest factor shaping bumble bee gut microbiome composition across all variables tested.
A 'captivity-sensitive core' of 12 bacterial taxa — including Frischella, Apilactobacillus, Staphylococcus, and Acinetobacter — was lost or reduced in commercially reared bees.
chevron_right Technical Summary
A global analysis of bumble bee gut bacteria found that bees raised indoors for commercial pollination have far less diverse and less stable gut microbiomes than wild outdoor bees, with outdoor bees hosting 253% more microbial species. This disrupted gut health could undermine the resilience of the bees we depend on to pollinate our crops and wildflowers.
Abstract Preview
Bumble bees (Bombus spp.) play a vital role in the provision of ecosystem services that benefit humans through crop pollination and supporting natural plant biodiversity. While their ecological fun...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
Was this useful?
Urban Tree Canopy Reduces Heat-Related Mortality by 39% in European Cities
Trees in your local park or street aren't just pretty — they are literally keeping people alive during heatwaves, and planting even a modest number of the ri...