BUMBLEBEE MOVEMENT IN A FRAGMENTED AGRICULTURAL LANDSCAPE

This paper presents the results of a bumblebee mark-reobservation stud y conducted in a fragmented agricultural landscape, where bumblebee re sources (forage, and probably also nest sites) exist mainly on scatter ed remnants of semi-natural habitat. The results show that reobservati ons of bumblebees marked while foraging were numerous and in general a t short distances (less than 50 m) from where they were marked. In con trast, when bumblebees were marked at the nest, the numbers of reobser vations were very low, even though monitoring of nest traffic showed t he nest to be very active during reobservation walks. The results indi cate that bumblebees do not necessarily forage close to their nest, an d that caution is needed if foraging area and nest location are based solely on the observation of foragers.