Biology subjects

Neumayer, J.

Publications and source records attributed to Neumayer, J..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

No need for fat: Nutritional preferences affect pollen foraging networks in alpine pollinator communities

Most flowering plant species rely on insect pollinators for successful cross-pollination. While floral color, scent, and morphology help attract visitors, the primary motivation for visiting a flower is the nutritional reward - nectar and, especially, pollen. Pollen provides a complete set of macro- and micronutrients essential for adult and larval provisioning in many insect flower visitors. However, pollen nutrient composition (i.e., quality) varies widely among plant species, and different visitors may have distinct nutritional requirements. Whether these differences are linked to the selection of plants visited remains poorly understood. In this study, we investigated whether the nutrient composition of pollen is linked to the visitation patterns of two main alpine pollinator groups: bumblebees and hoverflies. We observed flower visits in the field and identified the origin of pollen collected by bumblebees and hoverflies via metabarcoding. In addition, we analyzed the nutrient profiles of alpine flowering plants from the same habitat, including amino acids, fatty acids, and sterols. We hypothesized that both bumblebees and hoverflies (i) differ in the plant spectrum they were observed on/collected from and visited for pollen collection, (ii) and that preferred nutrient profiles differ between the two pollinator groups. We additionally expected (iii) that, in the studied alpine plant communities, the nutrient composition of pollen of plant species collected by flower visitors is more strongly associated with pollinator identity than with plant phylogeny due to competition for pollinators. Our results revealed that alpine bumblebees and hoverflies were more similar in their pollen hosts and nutritional preferences than expected, but, for both groups, the network based on observed flower visits differed significantly from that based on pollen collection. Pollen fatty acids and amino acids content was positively correlated, and both bumblebees and hoverflies preferred pollen with low fatty and amino acid content. Pollen sterols did not differ between plants collected by pollinators and non-collected plants. Neither fatty acid, amino acid, nor sterol composition was linked to plant phylogeny. Our findings suggest that not only amino acid content, but also fatty acid content, plays a key role in shaping pollen-collection patterns of flower visitors in alpine ecosystems.

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2020

The hotter, the better: warmer winters boost the natural spread of an eastern Mediterranean bumblebee (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Bombus haematurus)

Range expansions of naturally spreading species are crucial for understanding how species interact with the environment and build their niche. Here, we studied the bumblebee Bombus haematurus Kriechbaumer, 1870, a species historically distributed in the eastern Mediterranean area which has very recently started expanding northwards into Central Europe. After updating the global distribution of this species, we investigated if niche shifts took place during this range expansion between colonized and historical areas. In addition, we have explored which climatic factors have favoured the natural range expansion of the species. Our results indicated that Bombus haematurus has colonized large territories in 7 European countries outside the historical area in the period from the 1980s to 2018, a natural expansion over an area that equals the 20% of the historical distribution. In addition, this bumblebee performs generalism in flower visitation and habitat use, although a preference for forested areas emerges. The land-use associated with the species in the colonized areas is similar to the historical distribution, indicating that no major niche shifts occurred during the spread. Furthermore, the component of climate change that favoured this colonization is the warming of winter temperatures and similar warming rates took place during both overwintering and queens emergence phases. These findings document a case of natural range expansion due to environmental change rather than due to niche shifts, and specifically they indicate that warmer winters are playing a major role in the process of natural colonization of new areas.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2018

Species composition and altitudinal distribution of bumble bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Bombus) in the East Himalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, India

The East Himalaya is one of the worlds most biodiverse ecosystems. Yet, very little is known about the abundance and distribution of many plant and animal taxa in this region. Bumble bees are a group of cold-adapted and high altitude insects that fulfill an important ecological and economical function as pollinators of wild and agricultural flowering plants and crops. The Himalayan mountain range provides ample suitable habitats for bumble bees. Himalayan bumble bees have been studied systematically for a few decades now, with the main focus on the western region, while the eastern part of the mountain range received little attention and only a few species are genuinely reported. During a three-year survey, we collected more than 700 bumble bee specimens of 21 species in Arunachal Pradesh, the largest of the north-eastern states of India. We collected a range of species that were previously known from a very limited number of collected specimens, which highlights the unique character of the East Himalayan ecosystem. Our results are an important first step towards a future assessment of species distribution, threat and conservation. We observed clear altitudinal patterns of species diversity, which open important questions about the functional adaptations that allow bumble bees to thrive in this particularly moist region in the East Himalaya.

zoology↗